An experimental note on defining frequency competition in intersegmental coordination dynamics

Synchronous coordination between two body segments departs from phase locking at 0 or pi radians when the segments are asymmetrical. In models of coordination dynamics, this detuning is typically quantified by Delta omega = (omega(1) - omega(2)), where omega(1) and omega(2) are the uncoupled frequencies of the two segments. An experiment is reported in which the magnitude of Delta omega not equal 0 was satisfied by different ratios Omega of omega(1) and omega(2). The degree of detuning was found to vary systematically with Omega and Delta omega. This result corroborates previous research using the complementary manipulation of varying Delta omega for a fixed Omega. A challenge for future dynamical modeling is identifying precisely how the detuning quantity incorporates both the absolute and relative differences in the uncoupled segmental frequencies.