Perceptual Constraints and the Dynamics of Movement Execution and Learning

Guidance by simple visual patterns has been reported to facilitate performance of difficult coordination patterns. This kind of guidance, however, might significantly alter coordination dynamics and learning. Experiment 1 investigated the effect of visual guidance on the organization of bimanual coordination. Anti-phase 1:1 was performed without (i) augmented information, (ii) under metronome pacing, and (iii) under visual guidance by a Lissajous plot. DFA analysis revealed that the temporal dynamics of amplitudes and relative phase values deviated from the typical 1/f variation towards more random variation under visual guidance. Complexity of amplitudes, periods and relative phases, as measured by multiscale entropy, were also lowered in visual guidance. Experiment 2 investigated whether the dynamical effects visual guidance have any role in learning. Specifically, the effects of practicing bimanual coordination at 90° of relative phase with constant visual guidance by a Lissajous plot, a fading schedule of guidance and no guidance were investigated. After practice, individuals were tested in independent execution (with no guidance) and under visual guidance. Practice conditions did not affect temporal correlation of phases, amplitudes of periods at final tests. Complexity of amplitudes and periods showed some increase in the no guidance test for the group that practiced under constant visual guidance, but not for the other groups. A specificity of practice effect on complexity was found: performance in the visually guided test was associated with a general decrease in complexity for all groups (replicating Experiment 1), except for participants that practiced with constant visual guidance

Non-Markovian Dynamics of Charge Carriers in Quantum Dots

We have investigated the dynamics of bound particles in multilevel current-carrying quantum dots. We look specifically in the regime of resonant tunnelling transport, where several channels are available for transport. Through a non-Markovian formalism under the Born approximation, we investigate the real-time evolution of the confined particles including transport-induced decoherence and relaxation. In the case of a coherent superposition between states with different particle number, we find that a Fock-space coherence may be preserved even in the presence of tunneling into and out of the dot. Real-time results are presented for various asymmetries of tunneling rates into different orbitals.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, International Workshop on Physics-Based Mathematical Models for Low-Dimensional Semiconductor Nanostructures. BIRS, November 18-23, 200

Resonance induced by repulsive interactions in a model of globally-coupled bistable systems

We show the existence of a competition-induced resonance effect for a generic globally coupled bistable system. In particular, we demonstrate that the response of the macroscopic variable to an external signal is optimal for a particular proportion of repulsive links. Furthermore, we show that a resonance also occurs for other system parameters, like the coupling strength and the number of elements. We relate this resonance to the appearance of a multistable region, and we predict the location of the resonance peaks, by a simple spectral analysis of the Laplacian matrix

The Quantum States and the Statistical Entropy of the Charged Black Hole

We quantize the Reissner-Nordstr\"om black hole using an adaptation of Kucha\v{r}'s canonical decomposition of the Kruskal extension of the Schwarzschild black hole. The Wheeler-DeWitt equation turns into a functional Schroedinger equation in Gaussian time by coupling the gravitational field to a reference fluid or dust. The physical phase space of the theory is spanned by the mass, $M$, the charge, $Q$, the physical radius, $R$, the dust proper time, $\tau$, and their canonical momenta. The exact solutions of the functional Schroedinger equation imply that the difference in the areas of the outer and inner horizons is quantized in integer units. This agrees in spirit, but not precisely, with Bekenstein's proposal on the discrete horizon area spectrum of black holes. We also compute the entropy in the microcanonical ensemble and show that the entropy of the Reissner-Nordstr\"om black hole is proportional to this quantized difference in horizon areas.Comment: 31 pages, 3 figures, PHYZZX macros. Comments on the wave-functional in the interior and one reference added. To appear in Phys. Rev.