A central thesis of Esther Thelen’s perspective on movement and its development is expressed by the following: “Whatever the course of brain development, behavioral expression is entirely context dependent.” “[t]he organic components and the context are equally causal and privileged.” I will present this thesis in the conceptual framework provided by the ecological perspective on perception-action, a perspective inclusive of (a) the physical principles and circular logic of self-organization, and (b) developmental systems theory. In the course of this presentation, Bernstein’s dexterity analysis, the dynamical conception of metastability, and lessons from prestressed tensegrity structures that apply, for example, to connective tissues, will ground understanding of movement fluency.

Michael T. Turvey, (PhD, the Ohio State University), joined the University of Connecticut in 1967 (Professor Emeritus, 2008) and the Haskins Laboratories in 1970. He has published over 380 scientific articles and earned numerous awards. His research on perception and action and their inter-relation follows James Gibson and Nicholai Bernstein in emphasizing the search for general laws and principles. 
http://ione.psy.uconn.edu/mturvey