-
Annual International Conference of the... Jul 2023Supernumerary limbs promise to allow users to perform complex tasks that would otherwise require the actions of teams. However, how the user's capability for multimanual...
Supernumerary limbs promise to allow users to perform complex tasks that would otherwise require the actions of teams. However, how the user's capability for multimanual coordination compares to bimanual coordination, and how the motor system decides to configure its limb contributions given task redundancy is unclear. We conducted bimanual and trimanual (with the foot as a third-hand controller) virtual reality visuomotor tracking experiments to study how 32 healthy participants changed their limb coordination in response to uninstructed cursor mapping changes. This used a shared cursor mapped to the average limbs' position for different limb combinations. The results show that most participants correctly identified the different mappings during bimanual tracking, and accordingly minimized task-irrelevant motion. Instead during trimanual coordination, participants consistently moved all three limbs concurrently, showing weaker ipsilateral hand-foot coordination. These findings show how redundancy resolution and the resulting coordination patterns differ between similar bimanual and trimanual tasks. Further research is needed to consider the effect of learning on coordination behaviour.
Topics: Humans; Psychomotor Performance; Movement; Upper Extremity; Foot; Motion
PubMed: 38083745
DOI: 10.1109/EMBC40787.2023.10340722 -
Psychological Research Jul 2016Specific relations between executive functions (working memory capacity, planning and problem-solving, inhibitory control) and motor skill performance (anticipatory...
Specific relations between executive functions (working memory capacity, planning and problem-solving, inhibitory control) and motor skill performance (anticipatory motor planning, manual dexterity) were examined in 5- to 6-year-old children (N = 40). Results showed that the two motor skill components were not correlated. Additionally, it was found that response planning performance was a significant predictor of anticipatory motor planning performance, whereas inhibitory control and working memory capacity measures were significant predictors of manual dexterity scores. Taken together, these results suggest that cognitive and motor skills are linked, but that manual dexterity and anticipatory motor planning involve different specialized skills. The current study provides support for specific relations between cognitive and motor performance, which has implications for early childhood cognitive-motor training and intervention programs.
Topics: Child; Child, Preschool; Cognition; Executive Function; Female; Humans; Male; Memory, Short-Term; Motor Skills; Problem Solving; Psychomotor Performance
PubMed: 25820330
DOI: 10.1007/s00426-015-0662-0 -
Pediatrics International : Official... Oct 2016The specific mechanisms linking motor ability and cognitive performance, especially academic achievement, are still unclear. Whereas the literature provides an abundance...
BACKGROUND
The specific mechanisms linking motor ability and cognitive performance, especially academic achievement, are still unclear. Whereas the literature provides an abundance of information on fine and visual-motor skill and cognitive attributes, much less has been reported on gross motor ability. This study examined interlimb coordination and its relationship to academic performance in children aged 8-11 years.
METHODS
Motor and academic skills were examined in 100 Brazilian children using the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency and the Academic Performance Test. Participants were grouped into low (<25%) and high (>75%) academic achievers.
RESULTS
There was a significant difference between groups for Total Motor Composite (P < 0.001) favoring the high group. On regression analysis there was a significant association between academic performance and Body Coordination. Of the subtests of Body Coordination (Bilateral Coordination and Balance), Bilateral Coordination accounted for the highest impact on academic performance. Of interest here, that subtest consists primarily of gross motor tasks involving interlimb coordination.
CONCLUSION
Overall, there was a positive relationship between motor behavior, in particular activities involving interlimb coordination, and academic performance. Application of these findings in the area of early assessment may be useful in the identification of later academic problems.
Topics: Brazil; Child; Child Development; Educational Measurement; Female; Humans; Male; Motor Skills; Psychomotor Performance; Quality of Life; Schools
PubMed: 26940287
DOI: 10.1111/ped.12972 -
Experimental Brain Research Jun 2016This study investigated the extent to which specific interacting constraints of performance might increase or decrease the emergent complexity in a movement system, and...
This study investigated the extent to which specific interacting constraints of performance might increase or decrease the emergent complexity in a movement system, and whether this could affect the relationship between observed movement variability and the central nervous system's capacity to adapt to perturbations during balancing. Fifty-two healthy volunteers performed eight trials where different performance constraints were manipulated: task difficulty (three levels) and visual biofeedback conditions (with and without the center of pressure (COP) displacement and a target displayed). Balance performance was assessed using COP-based measures: mean velocity magnitude (MVM) and bivariate variable error (BVE). To assess the complexity of COP, fuzzy entropy (FE) and detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) were computed. ANOVAs showed that MVM and BVE increased when task difficulty increased. During biofeedback conditions, individuals showed higher MVM but lower BVE at the easiest level of task difficulty. Overall, higher FE and lower DFA values were observed when biofeedback was available. On the other hand, FE reduced and DFA increased as difficulty level increased, in the presence of biofeedback. However, when biofeedback was not available, the opposite trend in FE and DFA values was observed. Regardless of changes to task constraints and the variable investigated, balance performance was positively related to complexity in every condition. Data revealed how specificity of task constraints can result in an increase or decrease in complexity emerging in a neurobiological system during balance performance.
Topics: Adult; Feedback, Sensory; Female; Humans; Male; Postural Balance; Psychomotor Performance; Task Performance and Analysis; Visual Perception; Young Adult
PubMed: 26838357
DOI: 10.1007/s00221-016-4563-2 -
Journal of Experimental Psychology.... Sep 2023Across four experiments, we manipulated features of a simple reaction time (RT) task to examine the effects of such features on sustained attention. In Experiment 1, we...
Across four experiments, we manipulated features of a simple reaction time (RT) task to examine the effects of such features on sustained attention. In Experiment 1, we created simple RT "game" that pitted participants against two computerized avatars. In one condition, participants were awarded points, while the other condition did not receive points. Performance in the two conditions did not differ, but both conditions showed shorter RTs and shallower time-on-task performance decrements compared to a standard psychomotor vigilance task. In Experiment 2, we removed the competitive feature but retained the point system. In this case, participants without a point system showed a steeper performance decrement than those with a point system. Experiments 3 and 4 replicated these effects and corroborated their findings with pupillometry. Participants in both conditions of Experiment 3 (competitive task) and the condition of Experiment 4 showed larger task-evoked pupillary responses than participants in the condition of Experiment 4. These findings challenge the notion that time-on-task performance decrements are caused by resource depletion (Smit et al., 2004) and are better explained by motivational control (Hockey, 2011) or cost-benefit theories (Boksem & Tops, 2008; Kurzban et al., 2013) of mental effort and sustained attention. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).
Topics: Humans; Task Performance and Analysis; Attention; Reaction Time; Motivation; Reward; Psychomotor Performance
PubMed: 37471004
DOI: 10.1037/xhp0001148 -
Psychological Review Mar 2016Weber's law is the canonical scale-invariance law in psychology: when the intensities of 2 stimuli are scaled by any value k, the just-noticeable-difference between them... (Review)
Review
Weber's law is the canonical scale-invariance law in psychology: when the intensities of 2 stimuli are scaled by any value k, the just-noticeable-difference between them also scales by k. A diffusion model that approximates a spike-counting process accounts for Weber's law (Link, 1992), but there exist surprising corollaries of this account that have not yet been described or tested. We show that (a) this spike-counting diffusion model predicts time-scale invariant decision time distributions in perceptual decision making, and time-scale invariant response time (RT) distributions in interval timing; (b) for 2-choice perceptual decisions, the model predicts equal accuracy but faster responding for stimulus pairs with equally scaled-up intensities; (c) the coefficient of variation (CV) of decision times should remain constant across average intensity scales, but should otherwise decrease as a specific function of stimulus discriminability and speed-accuracy trade-off; and (d) for timing tasks, RT CVs should be constant for all durations, and RT skewness should always equal 3 times the CV. We tested these predictions using visual, auditory and vibrotactile decision tasks and visual interval timing tasks in humans. The data conformed closely to the predictions in all modalities. These results support a unified theory of decision making and timing in terms of a common, underlying spike-counting process, compactly represented as a diffusion process.
Topics: Decision Making; Humans; Models, Theoretical; Psychomotor Performance
PubMed: 26461957
DOI: 10.1037/rev0000014 -
Journal of Experimental Psychology.... Mar 2024When two speeded tasks have spatially overlapping responses, preactivated Task 2 (T2) response information influences Task 1 (T1) response selection, a phenomenon known...
When two speeded tasks have spatially overlapping responses, preactivated Task 2 (T2) response information influences Task 1 (T1) response selection, a phenomenon known as the backward crosstalk effect (BCE). Current models of the BCE implicitly assume that T2 response information is equally present in trials requiring compatible or incompatible responses, such that T1 performance improves when T2 requires a compatible response and deteriorates when T2 requires an incompatible response. Thus, T2 response information should have a facilitatory and an interfering effect on T1. Interestingly, this hypothesis has never been tested, and the present study (conducted between 2021 and 2023) attempts to fill this gap by using neutral trials in which T2 responses did not spatially overlap with those in T1. The results suggest that the BCE (in T1) reflects both facilitation and interference effects of comparable magnitude, thus corroborating current conceptualizations of the BCE. We also observed an unexpected pattern of effects for T2, with only an interference effect, but no facilitation effect. Additional experiments led us to conclude that the T2 result was sensitive to the specific task characteristics. Conclusions about how the crosstalk transfers from T1 to T2 when switching tasks are therefore not possible. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
Topics: Humans; Psychomotor Performance; Task Performance and Analysis
PubMed: 38421776
DOI: 10.1037/xhp0001184 -
Developmental Psychobiology Mar 2015To shed further light on infant stepping, we investigated whether newborns could step on a treadmill and adapt their steps to graded velocities. Twenty-one newborns...
To shed further light on infant stepping, we investigated whether newborns could step on a treadmill and adapt their steps to graded velocities. Twenty-one newborns (mean = 3 days) were supported for 60 s trials on a treadmill that was static or moved at 13.4, 17.2, or 23.4 cm/s. Video analysis revealed that newborns made more real steps than in-place "pumps" on the moving treadmill than on the static treadmill and made more real steps at 17.2 than 23.4 cm/s. While the treadmill had no effect on arousal, stepping increased and showed higher quality and coordination across conditions when infants were crying. These findings suggest that treadmill interventions currently used to promote the development of independent locomotion in infants at risk of delay could begin at birth. Further investigation is needed to establish the optimal conditions for newborn treadmill stepping and to specify how arousal affects step rate, quality, and coordination.
Topics: Arousal; Female; Humans; Infant, Newborn; Locomotion; Male; Motor Skills; Physical Stimulation; Psychomotor Performance; Video Recording
PubMed: 25644966
DOI: 10.1002/dev.21270 -
Scientific Reports Feb 2023Abundant evidence shows that consolidated memories are susceptible to modifications following their reactivation. Processes of memory consolidation and...
Abundant evidence shows that consolidated memories are susceptible to modifications following their reactivation. Processes of memory consolidation and reactivation-induced skill modulation have been commonly documented after hours or days. Motivated by studies showing rapid consolidation in early stages of motor skill acquisition, here we asked whether motor skill memories are susceptible to modifications following brief reactivations, even at initial stages of learning. In a set of experiments, we collected crowdsourced online motor sequence data to test whether post-encoding interference and performance enhancement occur following brief reactivations in early stages of learning. Results indicate that memories forming during early learning are not susceptible to interference nor to enhancement within a rapid reactivation-induced time window, relative to control conditions. This set of evidence suggests that reactivation-induced motor skill memory modulation might be dependent on consolidation at the macro-timescale level, requiring hours or days to occur.
Topics: Motor Skills; Learning; Memory Consolidation; Psychomotor Performance
PubMed: 36808164
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-29963-5 -
Child Development Sep 2019Inhibitory control is the capacity to suppress inappropriate responses. It is central to many aspects of development, most notably executive function and effortful... (Review)
Review
Inhibitory control is the capacity to suppress inappropriate responses. It is central to many aspects of development, most notably executive function and effortful control. Despite its importance, however, there are significant gaps in our understanding of inhibitory control's early development, and several findings that remain hard to explain. Here, a new account of inhibitory control is presented, explaining previous findings by distinguishing between two distinct ways that inhibitory control is used. According to this "Strength/Endurance" account, inappropriate responses which are highly prepotent tax inhibitory strength; whereas inappropriate responses which remain active for a long time tax inhibitory endurance. The developmental trajectories of these two aspects of inhibitory control, and their separate impacts on broader development, are discussed.
Topics: Child; Child Development; Executive Function; Female; Humans; Inhibition, Psychological; Male; Psychomotor Performance
PubMed: 31286502
DOI: 10.1111/cdev.13283