Ramesh Balasubramaniam, PhD
Principal Investigator, Sensorimotor Neuroscience Laboratory.
While I occasionally update this site, current information about my research can be found at http://sensorimotor.mcmaster.ca
You can contact me directly at ramesh at mcmaster dot ca
Research
I study the organization of human action. The goal of my research is to develop a comprehensive science of embodied cognition through the study of movement. My research brings together Cognitive, Neurophysiological and Dynamical systems approaches in the study of action.
I am interested in all aspects of Perception-Action systems, but especially in three programs of research: (1) Posture and Balance (2) Voluntary goal directed actions and (3) Timing in repetitive and rhythmic movements. My research borrows from principles of complex systems, where the behavior of a system of many components is significantly different, yet simpler than the behavior of the components themselves.
* indicates student/trainee author
[40] Balasubramaniam, R. (2012). Preface to the special issue: Complex systems in Neurobiology. Critical Reviews in Biomedical Engineering. 40 (6). Guest editorial. (in press)
Balasubramaniam, R. & Torre, K. (2012). Complexity in Neurobiology: Perspectives from the study of noise in human motor systems. Critical Reviews in Biomedical Engineering. 40 (6). (in press)
Richardson, B.*, Cluff, T.*, Lyons, J. & Balasubramaniam, R. (2012). An eye-to-hand magnet effect reveals distinct spatial interference in motor planning and execution. Experimental Brain Research (accepted Dec 15, 2012).
Therrien, A.S.*, Lyons, J. & Balasubramaniam, R. (2012). Sensory attenuation of self-produced feedback: The Lombard effect revisited. PLoS ONE. 7(11): e49370. PDF (doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0049370)
Cluff, T.*, Manos, A.*, Lee, T.D. & Balasubramaniam, R. (2012). Multijoint error compensation mediates unstable object control. Journal of Neurophysiology 108: 1167-1175. PDF
[35] Balasubramaniam, R. (2012). On the control of unstable objects: the dynamics of human stick balancing. In Richardson, M. R., Shockley, K., & Riley, M. A. (eds.) Advances in Motor Control: Neural, Computational, and Dynamical Approaches. New York: Springer (in press).
Ahken, S.*, Comeau, G., Hébert, S. & Balasubramaniam, R. (2012). Eye-movement patterns during the processing of musical and linguistic syntactic incongruities. Psychomusicology: Music, Mind & Brain. (doi: 10.1037/a0026751) PDF
Studenka, B.E.*, Zelaznik, H.N. & Balasubramaniam, R.(2012). The distinction between tapping and circle drawing with and without tactile feedback: An examination of the sources of timing variance. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. (doi: 10.1080/17470218.2011.640404 ) PDF
Therrien, A.S*, Richardson, B.A.* & Balasubramaniam, R. (2011). cTBS to the primary motor cortex reduces the overproduction of forces following the removal of visual feedback. Neuropsychologia 49: 2941-2946 PDF
Cluff, T. *, Boulet, J.W.* & Balasubramaniam, R. (2011). Learning a stick balancing task involves task-specific coupling between posture and hand displacements. Experimental Brain Research 213: 55-65 . PDF
[30] Mak, L. *, Yeh, T-T.*, Boulet, J.W.*, Cluff, T.*, & Balasubramaniam, R. (2011). Interaction between delayed visual feedback and secondary cognitive tasks on posture control in Older adults. Science et Motricité: Special Issue on Posture Control. DOI: 10.1051/sm/2011113. PDF . Invited submission.
Richardson, B.A.*, Ratneswaran, A.*, Lyons, J.L. & Balasubramaniam, R. (2011). The time course of online trajectory corrections in memory-guided saccades. Experimental Brain Research 212: 457-469 .PDF
Torre, K.*, Balasubramaniam, R., Rheaume, N., Lemoine, L. & Zelaznik, H.N. (2011). Long-range correlation properties in motor timing are individual and task specific. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 18: 339-346. PDF
Torre, K.* & Balasubramaniam, R. (2011). Disentangling stability, variability and adaptability in human performance: Focus on the interplay between local variance and serial correlation. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 37: 539-550. PDF
Yeh, T-T.*, Boulet, J.W.*, Cluff, T.* & Balasubramaniam, R. (2010). Contributions of delayed visual feedback and cognitive task load to postural dynamics. Neuroscience Letters 483: 173-177 . PDF
[25] Torre, K.*, Balasubramaniam, R. & Delignières, D. (2010). Oscillating in synchrony with a metronome: serial dependence, limit cycle dynamics, and modeling. Motor Control 13: 323-343 PDF
Therrien, A.S.*, Lyons, J.L. & Balasubramaniam, R. (2010). Repetitive finger force production in predictable environments. Neuroscience Letters 479: 69-73. PDF
Cluff, T.*, Gharib, T*. & Balasubramaniam, R. (2010) Attentional influences on the performance of secondary postural tasks during posture control. Experimental Brain Research 203: 647-658. PDF
Richardson, B.A.* & Balasubramaniam, R. (2010) The effect of entrainment on the timing of periodic eye movements. Neuroscience Letters 469:117-121. PDF
Therrien, A.S.* & Balasubramaniam, R. (2010). Timing and visual feedback constraints on repetitive finger force production. Experimental Brain Research 201: 673-679 . PDF
[20] Boulet, J.*, Balasubramaniam, R., Daffertshofer, A., and Longtin, A. (2010) Stochastic two delay-differential model of delayed visual feedback effects on postural dynamics. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A 368 (1911) :423-438. PDF
Torre, K.* & Balasubramaniam, R. (2009) Two different processes for sensorimotor synchronization in continuous and discontinuous rhythmic movements. Experimental Brain Research 199: 157-166. PDF.
Cluff, T.*, Riley, M.A. & Balasubramaniam, R. (2009) Dynamical structure of hand trajectories during pole balancing. Neuroscience Letters, 484: 88-92. PDF.
Cluff, T.* & Balasubramaniam, R. (2009). Motor Learning characterized by changing Lévy distributions. Public Library of Science: ONE, 2009: e5998. PDF
Van den Heuvel, M.*, Balasubramaniam, R., Daffertshofer, A., Longtin, A. & Beek, P.J. (2009) Delayed visual feedback reveals distinct time scales in balance control. Neuroscience Letters, 452: 37-41. PDF
[15] Cluff, T.*, Robertson, D.G.E. & Balasubramaniam, R. (2008). Kinetics of hula hooping: an inverse dynamics analysis. Human Movement Science, 27: 622:635. PDF
Balasubramaniam, R. & Turvey, M.T. (2006). The lambda model in the 1990s. In M.F. Levin (ed). Forty years of the Equilibrium point hypothesis (pp 375-378). Tristar: Quebec. Link
Balasubramaniam, R. (2006) Trajectory formation in timed rhythmic movements. In M.L. Latash & F. Lestienne (eds) Motor Control and Learning (pp 47-54). Springer: New York. PDF
Bracewell, R.M., Balasubramaniam, R. & Wing, A.M. (2005). Interlimb coordination deficits during cyclic movements in cerebellar hemiataxia. Neurology 64: 751-752. PDF
Balasubramaniam, R., Wing, A.M. & Daffertshofer, A. (2004). Keeping with the beat: movement trajectories contribute to movement timing. Experimental Brain Research 159: 129-134. PDF
[10] Balasubramaniam, R. & Turvey, M.T. (2004) Coordination modes in the multi-segmental dynamics of hula-hooping. Biological Cybernetics. 90: 176-190. PDF
Ustinova, K., Goussev, V., Balasubramaniam, R. & Levin, M.F. (2004). Disruption of coordination between arm, trunk and center of pressure displacement in patients with hemiparesis. Motor Control. 8: 139-159. PDF
Balasubramaniam, R. & Feldman, A.G. (2004) Guiding movements without redundancy problems. In V. K. Jirsa and J. A. S. Kelso (eds) Coordination Dynamics : Issues and Trends. Springer : New York-Berlin-Heidelberg. PDF
Balasubramaniam, R. (2004). Redundancy in the nervous system: Where internal models collapse. Behavioral & Brain Sciences , 27: 396-397. PDF
Balasubramaniam, R. & Wing, A.M. (2002) The dynamics of standing balance. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 6, 531-536. PDF
[5] Balasubramaniam, R. & Feldman, A.G. (2001) Some robotic imitations of biological movements can be counterproductive. Behavioral & Brain Sciences, 24, 1050-1052. PDF
Balasubramaniam, R., & Turvey, M.T. (2001) The handedness of postural fluctuations. Human Movement Science, 19, 667-684. PDF
Balasubramaniam, R., Riley M.A., & Turvey M.T. (2000) Specificity of postural sway to the demands of a precision task. Gait & Posture, 9, 65-78. PDF
Riley M.A., Balasubramaniam R., & Turvey M.T. (1999) Recurrence quantification analysis of postural fluctuations. Gait & Posture, 11, 12-24. PDF
Riley M.A., Balasubramaniam, R., Mitra, S. & Turvey, M.T. (1998) Visual influences on the centre of pressure dynamics of upright posture. Ecological Psychology, 10, 65-92. PDF