Biological constraints or behavior systems approaches, consistent with general precepts of ethology, emphasize that all learning occurs as a modification of existing structures and processes. Lawful accounts of what is learned and how learning occurs must then address two chief issues: First, the inital state of the learner before learning needs to be evaluated. Second, it is necessary to determine how this state is modified during the learning process itself. Although the idea that learning somehow involves a modification of current behavioral repertoire of an individual appears intuitive, the actual operationalization of this notion with a self-contained description is extremely difficult.

At the Laboratory for Coordination Dynamics, we examine the issue of perceptuomotor learning in the context of learning coordinative patterns. A strength of our approach to learning which blends experimental and theoretical work, is that it provides concepts and methods that explicitly treat existing coordination tendencies and their evolution before, during, and after learning. Thus, not only can learning be identified in terms of improvement in performance toward some criterion level, but learning can also be assessed directly as alterations of extant coordination tendencies in the direction of the task to be learned. Coordination tendencies are treated in terms of dynamics (i.e., as equations motion of a relevant collective variable that changes during the learning process). Because this collective variable expresses the ongoing interaction between the numerous neural, muscular, and metabolic elements involved in perception and action, its time-dependent behavior is referred to as coordination dynamics . Environmental requirements, such as the learning task, are expressed as specific parameters on these dynamics. Thus, the learning requirement and what the learner brings into the learning situation (viz. individual coordination tendencies) are captured within the same description. Finally, although the unit of analysis is the individual, each with his or her own signature (e.g. initial coordination tendencies), laws of learning are expressed in terms of generic mechanisms (e.g., stability, instability, competition, cooperation, etc.) that are deemed to underlie learning in all individuals.