Facilitating the use of online visual feedback: advance information and the inter-trial interval?

Cheng et al. (2008) showed that when goal-directed reaching movements are performed with a 2.5 s inter-trial interval (ITI) under a randomized visual feedback schedule, individuals use online visual information on trial n to perform efficient online corrections on trial n + 1 (i.e., "reminiscence" effect). These results persisted even when participants were given knowledge of the up-coming vision condition. In this study, the ITI was extended to 5 s in an attempt to negate any effects of the preceding trial. Results from this study revealed that trials with vision were always more accurate than trials performed without vision, suggesting that individuals relied significantly on online information. Furthermore, aiming precision improved when participants knew the vision condition before each trial. It is thus suggested that the reminiscence effects are not longer evident with a 5 s ITI, which in turn allows prior knowledge of visual feedback to influence the use of online vision.