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Peer-reviewedCC BYJournal of Neurophysiology

Beyond group averages: why motor control studies must address population and individual heterogeneity

  • Thorsten Rudroff1,2
  1. 1Turku PET Centre, Department of Clinical Medicine
  2. 2University of Turku and Turku University Hospital
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Abstract

TO THE EDITOR: Kim et al. (1) make an important conceptual contribution by distinguishing force variability from force smoothness during isometric contractions, demonstrating that these metrics respond differently to visual gain manipulation. However, the study suffers from two fundamental problems that undermine its scientific validity: 1) a demographically opaque convenience sample of 14 participants presented as revealing universal principles of human motor control, and 2) visible individual heterogeneity in the data that is completely ignored in favor of group averages. These issues exemplify what I term the “dual diversity crisis” in neuroscience research—the simultaneous neglect of both population diversity and brain diversity.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{rudroff2026beyond,
  title = {{Beyond group averages: why motor control studies must address population and individual heterogeneity}},
  author = {Thorsten Rudroff},
  journal = {Journal of Neurophysiology},
  year = {2026},
  month = may,
  doi = {10.1152/jn.00021.2026},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1152/jn.00021.2026},
  note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Beyond group averages: why motor control studies must address population and individual heterogeneity
AU  - Thorsten Rudroff
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/05/18
JO  - Journal of Neurophysiology
DO  - 10.1152/jn.00021.2026
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1152/jn.00021.2026
AB  - TO THE EDITOR: Kim et al. (1) make an important conceptual contribution by distinguishing force variability from force smoothness during isometric contractions, demonstrating that these metrics respond differently to visual gain manipulation. However, the study suffers from two fundamental problems that undermine its scientific validity: 1) a demographically opaque convenience sample of 14 participants presented as revealing universal principles of human motor control, and 2) visible individual heterogeneity in the data that is completely ignored in favor of group averages. These issues exemplify what I term the “dual diversity crisis” in neuroscience research—the simultaneous neglect of both population diversity and brain diversity.
SN  - 0022-3077
SN  - 1522-1598
ER  -