A Functional Data Analysis of the Pinch Force of Human Fingers

J. O. Ramsay, X. Wang and R. Flanagan

Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series C, 1995, vol. 44, issue 1, 17-30

Abstract: The ability of the human thumb and forefinger to adapt the pinch force to the static and dynamic characteristics of the object being grasped is one of the marvels of human physiology. We analyse a sample of records of the force applied during a brief squeeze by functional data analysis techniques in which familiar statistical concepts are adapted to observations that are functional in character. Except for scale, a graph of these force impulses closely resembles a log‐normal density function, and this has a plausible physiological rationale. Specially adapted smoothing spline approximations along with a functional version of principal components analysis reveal that the residual variation is essentially one dimensional in structure, and that the force functions can be described by a simple linear differential equation incorporating the effects of drag or viscosity in the joints and muscles involved.

Date: 1995
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