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The "Motor" in Implicit Motor Sequence Learning: A Foot-stepping Serial Reaction Time Task
Published on: May 3, 2018
Short-term motor plasticity revealed in a visuomotor decision-making task
Craig S Chapman1, Jason P Gallivan, Daniel K Wood
1Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario N6A 5C2, Canada.
Behavioural Brain Research
|May 18, 2010
Summary
Recent experience influences motor control. This study shows that recent visuomotor experience biases movement decisions between competing targets, with repeated target exposure strengthening the bias in subsequent reaches.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Motor Control
- Visuomotor System
Background:
- The visuomotor system faces challenges in selecting single actions in complex environments.
- Motor plans are thought to compete, with decisions influenced by sensory input and recent/long-term experience.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how recent trial-to-trial visuomotor experience influences movement decisions between competing targets.
- To examine the spatial influence of previous decisions on reach trajectories.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a rapid reaching task where subjects initiated reaches toward multiple potential targets before in-flight cueing.
- Applied novel statistical analysis to reach trajectories to assess spatial biases.
Main Results:
- In target uncertainty, reaches were spatially averaged toward the midpoint of potential targets before correction.
- Consecutive cueing of the same target location biased subsequent reaches toward that location, with accumulating effects across trials.
Conclusions:
- Provides evidence for parallel encoding and competition of potential reach locations.
- Demonstrates that recent motor competition is significantly biased by trial history.
