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Published on: January 1, 2014
Cognitive aspects of motor control: the role of action effects in response planning
1Humboldt-University, Department of Psychology, Berlin, Germany. dieter.nattkemper@psychologie.hu-berlin.de
Abstract:
Two experiments addressed the issue of the role of (learned) action effects in response planning. In an initial acquisition phase participants perveived that each of their responses to visual stimuli would produce a particular stimulus contingent to the given action-demanding stimulus. In a succeeding test phase targets were presented together with noise elements which (among others) would or would not represent (learned) effects of the response to the target stimulus. We obtained an effect of the effect-compatibility indicating that noise elements representing the effect of the to-be-executed response allowed for faster responding. These findings suggest that anticipations of action effects play a functional role in response planning.
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