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Topic · Cognitive Neuroscience

Motor Control and Adaptation

Motor Control and Adaptation is a research topic within Cognitive Neuroscience. Science Explorer counts 28k research works in it since 1950. 9.9% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the computational principles, neural basis, and learning mechanisms underlying motor control, sensorimotor learning, feedback control, and the role of structures such as the cerebellum in motor skill acquisition. It delves into topics like muscle synergies, visuomotor integration, implicit learning, and neuroplasticity in the context of motor control.

  • Motor Control
  • Sensorimotor Learning
  • Feedback Control
  • Neural Basis
  • Motor Skill
  • Cerebellum
  • Muscle Synergies
  • Visuomotor Integration
  • Implicit Learning
  • Neuroplasticity
Research works
28k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
2.8k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+1%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
28% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Motor Control and Adaptation

Which countries lead Motor Control and Adaptation research?

By volume, the United States and Japan publish the most (959 and 468 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 959 works
  2. 2 Japan 468 works
  3. 3 China 452 works
  4. 4 Germany 352 works
  5. 5 Canada 264 works
  6. 6 Italy 254 works
  7. 7 France 230 works
  8. 8 United Kingdom 229 works
  9. 9 Australia 105 works
  10. 10 Netherlands 104 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

United States: 28.1%Japan: 13.7%China: 13.2%Germany: 10.3%6 others listed: 34.7%28%largest
United States959 · 28.1%Japan468 · 13.7%China452 · 13.2%Germany352 · 10.3%6 others listed1,185 · 34.7%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Motor Control and Adaptation research?

By volume in 2022-now, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique publishes the most Motor Control and Adaptation research, followed by The University of Tokyo and University of British Columbia.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 73 works
  2. 2 The University of TokyoJapan 24 works
  3. 3 University of British ColumbiaCanada 23 works
  4. 4 University of TorontoCanada 21 works
  5. 5 Vrije Universiteit AmsterdamNetherlands 21 works
  6. 6 Western UniversityCanada 21 works
  7. 7 Imperial College LondonUnited Kingdom 20 works
  8. 8 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 20 works
  9. 9 Pennsylvania State UniversityUnited States 20 works
  10. 10 Johns Hopkins UniversityUnited States 18 works

Who are the leading researchers in Motor Control and Adaptation?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Motor Control and Adaptation include Rob Knight, Karl John Friston and Dan J. Stein.

  1. 1 Rob Knight United States 468k citations
  2. 2 Karl John Friston United Kingdom 310k citations
  3. 3 Dan J. Stein South Africa 306k citations
  4. 4 Luigi Ferrucci United States 281k citations
  5. 5 Lei Jiang China 214k citations
  6. 6 Trevor William Robbins United Kingdom 199k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Motor Control and Adaptation?

The most cited paper in Motor Control and Adaptation is "Separate visual pathways for perception and action" (Melvyn Alan Goodale, A. David Milner, 1992), with 6,642 citations. Next come "The information capacity of the human motor system in controlling the amplitude of movement." (6,325) and "Action recognition in the premotor cortex" (4,988).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Separate visual pathways for perception and action Melvyn Alan Goodale, A. David Milner · Trends in Neurosciences Review 1992 6,642
2 The information capacity of the human motor system in controlling the amplitude of movement. Paul M. Fitts · Journal of Experimental Psychology General 1992 6,325
3 Action recognition in the premotor cortex Vittorio Gallese, Luciano Fadiga, Leonardo Fogassi et al. · Brain 1996 4,988
4 Premotor cortex and the recognition of motor actions Giacomo Rizzolatti, Luciano Fadiga, Vittorio Gallese et al. · Cognitive Brain Research Mar 1996 4,883
5 The coordination of arm movements: an experimentally confirmed mathematical model Tamar Flash, N. Hogan · Journal of Neuroscience Open access Jul 1985 4,444
All 99 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Motor Control and Adaptation research done?

The largest centres of Motor Control and Adaptation research in 2022-now are Tokyo (Japan), Beijing (China), Paris (France) and London (United Kingdom). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Genoa and London.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 TokyoJapan 155 works
  2. 2 BeijingChina 91 works
  3. 3 ParisFrance 74 works
  4. 4 LondonUnited Kingdom 67 works
  5. 5 ShanghaiChina 61 works
  6. 6 RomeItaly 59 works
  7. 7 TorontoCanada 47 works
  8. 8 MontrealCanada 38 works
  9. 9 SeoulSouth Korea 37 works
  10. 10 New YorkUnited States 31 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. GenoaIT · 29.3 works12×
  2. LondonCA · 22.4 works7.9×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Motor Control and Adaptation than the world average.

See Motor Control and Adaptation on the map

Where is the best place to study Motor Control and Adaptation?

Among universities, judged by research, Pennsylvania State University, Imperial College London and Johns Hopkins University score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%10%20%30%mean 17.24%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Pennsylvania State U…KU LeuvenJohns Hopkins Univer…Imperial College Lon…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Pennsylvania State UniversityUnited States 72.127.4%4.6×20 +8.9%
2Imperial College LondonUnited Kingdom 72.015.2%5.2×20 +31.1%
3Johns Hopkins UniversityUnited States 69.818.4%3.0×18 -27.0%
4KU LeuvenBelgium 62.921.6%4.7×18 -21.3%
5Radboud University NijmegenNetherlands 62.614.2%7.3×17 +11.4%
6Vrije Universiteit AmsterdamNetherlands 61.116.4%13.1×21 -19.0%
7Western UniversityCanada 61.114.7%9.4×21 -14.5%
8Shanghai University of SportChina 58.016.5%54.0×12 +80.4%
9The University of TokyoJapan 56.17.0%4.9×24 +12.9%
10University of California, BerkeleyUnited States 55.421.0%2.9×11 +26.5%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Motor Control and Adaptation, country by country

Is Motor Control and Adaptation research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 1% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Motor Control and Adaptation.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Motor Control and Adaptation as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.015% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%Motor Control and Adaptation0.021% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Motor Control and Adaptation over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Motor Control and Adaptation9.7% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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