Document Type
Article
Publication Date
8-27-2025
Abstract
The concept of internal models dominates contemporary theories of sensorimotor control, with researchers across neurosciences, specifically motor control, routinely explaining observed behaviors through computational representations that supposedly exist within the nervous system. In this perspective, I present a critical examination of internal model frameworks in sensorimotor control. I argue that representational approaches mischaracterize biological systems for several fundamental reasons: (1) Internal models require homuncular interpreters, creating infinite regress problems; (2) The purported neural implementations of internal models remain empirically elusive despite decades of research; (3) Biological movement systems exhibit multiscale, nonlinear, and non-Gaussian dynamics that fundamentally defy reduction to conventional computational representations; (4) Internal model frameworks implicitly depend on Cartesian dualism through their separation of the “controller” and “controlled;” (5) The framework is methodologically circular and largely unfalsifiable as virtually any behavior can be retroactively modeled as implementing some internal representation; and (6) Alternative frameworks based on ecological dynamics and self-organization can account for adaptive behavior without invoking representational assumptions. Instead of representational models, I propose that sensorimotor control emerges from the dynamic coupling between the organism and the environment across multiple spatial and temporal scales. By moving beyond the internal model paradigm, sensorimotor neuroscience can develop more powerful explanatory frameworks that better capture the emergent, context-sensitive properties of biological movement without invoking physiologically intractable computational metaphors.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-025-05963-3
Journal Title
European Journal of Applied Physiology
Volume
125
First Page
3083
Last Page
3114
Recommended Citation
Mangalam, Madhur, "The illusion of internal models in biological movement" (2025). Journal Articles. 416.
https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/biomechanicsarticles/416
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Funded by the University of Nebraska at Omaha Open Access Fund
Comments
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This article was published open access under the Criss Library (Lyrasis member) and Springer open access publishing agreement.