tai chi experiment

[Avery Andrews 940706.1238]

I recently got much better at the standing-on-one-leg-while-waving-the-other-
around aspect of Tai Chi movements, which raises the question of
what got acquired. 2 possibilities:

1. A better compensator. It is know that voluntary motions (like
      reaching out to grasp a beer bottle) are preceeded be
      anticipatory corrections to posture (before pulling something
      toward you, you lean back a bit). So maybe there has been
      something like an improvement to a compensatory mechanism that
      knows where the free leg is going to go, and adjusts the weight
      distrution accordingly

2. A better control system, perhaps one that can maintain balance without
      imposing requirements on the free leg.

A possible experiment to distinguish these two might be to attach some
weights to the free leg and see how I perform (I just happen to have
some lead flashing in the garage). Since I've only practiced these
movements using one pair of (rather light) shoes, a change in the
mass distribution of the free leg ought to make a lot of trouble
for the compensator, but a control system should be able to adjust
very quickly.

Any other thoughts on possible interpretations or experiments?

  Avery.Andrews@anu.edu.au