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Psychophysiology Jun 2021Relatively little is known about the relation between subthreshold error corrections and post-error behavioral compensations. The present study utilized lateralized beta...
Relatively little is known about the relation between subthreshold error corrections and post-error behavioral compensations. The present study utilized lateralized beta power, which has been shown to index response preparation, to examine subthreshold error corrections in a task known to produce response conflict, the Simon task. We found that even when an overt correction is not made, greater activation of the corrective response, indexed by beta suppression ipsilateral to the initial responding hand, predicted post-error speeding, and enhanced post-error accuracy at the single-trial level. This provides support for the notion that response conflict associated with errors can be adaptive, and suggests that subthreshold corrections should be taken into account to fully understand error-monitoring processes. Furthermore, we expand on previous findings that demonstrate that post-error slowing and post-error accuracy can be dissociated, as well as findings that suggest that frontal midline theta oscillations and the error-related negativity (ERN) are dissociable neurocognitive processes.
Topics: Adult; Choice Behavior; Conflict, Psychological; Electroencephalography; Female; Humans; Male; Psychomotor Performance; Reaction Time; Task Performance and Analysis; Theta Rhythm; Young Adult
PubMed: 33709470
DOI: 10.1111/psyp.13803 -
Psychonomic Bulletin & Review Jun 2021The prevalence of media multitasking - the concurrent use of multiple forms of media - has motivated research on whether and how it is related to various cognitive...
The prevalence of media multitasking - the concurrent use of multiple forms of media - has motivated research on whether and how it is related to various cognitive abilities, such as the ability to switch tasks. However, previous research on the relationship between media multitasking and task-switching performance has yielded mixed results, possibly because of small sample sizes and a confound between task and cue transitions that resulted in switch costs being impure measures of task-switching ability. The authors conducted a large-sample study in which media multitasking behavior was surveyed and task-switching performance was assessed using two cues per task, thereby allowing switch costs to be partitioned into task-switching and cue-repetition effects. The main finding was no evidence of any relationship between media multitasking scores and task-switching effects (or cue-repetition effects), either in correlational analyses or in extreme group analyses of light and heavy media multitaskers. The results are discussed in the context of previous research, with implications for studying media multitasking in relation to task-switching performance.
Topics: Adult; Attention; Communications Media; Cues; Executive Function; Humans; Male; Multimedia; Psychomotor Performance
PubMed: 33634358
DOI: 10.3758/s13423-021-01895-z -
Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology Apr 2021Extensive literature has shown the effect of "quiet eye" (QE) on motor performance. However, little attention has been paid to the context in which tasks are executed...
Extensive literature has shown the effect of "quiet eye" (QE) on motor performance. However, little attention has been paid to the context in which tasks are executed (independent of anxiety) and the mechanisms that underpin the phenomenon. Here, the authors aimed to investigate the effects of context (independent of anxiety) on QE and performance while examining if the mechanisms underpinning QE are rooted in cognitive effort. In this study, 21 novice participants completed golf putts while pupil dilation, QE duration, and putting accuracy were measured. Results showed that putting to win was more accurate compared with the control (no context) condition, and QE duration was longer when putting to win or tie a hole compared with control. There was no effect of context on pupil dilation. Results suggest that, while the task was challenging, performance scenarios can enhance representativeness of practice without adding additional load to cognitive resources, even for novice performers.
Topics: Athletic Performance; Cognition; Fixation, Ocular; Golf; Humans; Psychomotor Performance; Pupil; Young Adult
PubMed: 33730694
DOI: 10.1123/jsep.2020-0026 -
Psychonomic Bulletin & Review Jun 2024Most theoretical accounts of imitation assume that covert and overt measures of automatic imitation tap into the same underlying construct. Despite this widespread...
Most theoretical accounts of imitation assume that covert and overt measures of automatic imitation tap into the same underlying construct. Despite this widespread assumption, it is not well supported by empirical evidence. In fact, the only study investigating the relation between covert and overt automatic imitation failed to find a correlation between them (Genschow et al., 2017, PLOS ONE, 12[9], Article e0183784). However, because overt and covert imitation were measured using two very different tasks, and because the measure of overt imitation was found to be unreliable, it is still not clear whether a correlation between both measures exists. Here, we address this question by reanalyzing the results of a previous virtual reality study in which automatic imitation was indexed with an overt and covert measure of gaze following, both obtained within one and the same task (Cracco et al., 2022, IScience, Article 104891). The results show that, in this situation, both types of imitation do correlate. As such, our results provide support for the idea that overt and covert measures of automatic imitation measure the same underlying construct.
Topics: Humans; Imitative Behavior; Adult; Psychomotor Performance; Virtual Reality; Young Adult; Fixation, Ocular; Male; Female
PubMed: 38010454
DOI: 10.3758/s13423-023-02420-0 -
Physics of Life Reviews Mar 2024
Topics: Psychomotor Performance; Movement
PubMed: 38237427
DOI: 10.1016/j.plrev.2024.01.002 -
Brain Research Aug 2019Although music performance has been widely studied in the behavioural sciences, less work has addressed the underlying neural mechanisms, perhaps due to technical...
Although music performance has been widely studied in the behavioural sciences, less work has addressed the underlying neural mechanisms, perhaps due to technical difficulties in acquiring high-quality neural data during tasks requiring natural motion. The advent of wireless electroencephalography (EEG) presents a solution to this problem by allowing for neural measurement with minimal motion artefacts. In the current study, we provide the first validation of a mobile wireless EEG system for capturing the neural dynamics associated with piano performance. First, we propose a novel method for synchronously recording music performance and wireless mobile EEG. Second, we provide results of several timing tests that characterize the timing accuracy of our system. Finally, we report EEG time domain and frequency domain results from N=40 pianists demonstrating that wireless EEG data capture the unique temporal signatures of musicians' performances with fine-grained precision and accuracy. Taken together, we demonstrate that mobile wireless EEG can be used to measure the neural dynamics of piano performance with minimal motion constraints. This opens many new possibilities for investigating the brain mechanisms underlying music performance.
Topics: Adult; Brain; Electroencephalography; Female; Humans; Male; Motor Skills; Music; Psychomotor Performance; Wireless Technology
PubMed: 28693821
DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2017.07.001 -
Psychological Research Feb 2023Action-effect learning is based on a theoretical concept that actions are associated with their perceivable consequences through bidirectional associations. Past...
Action-effect learning is based on a theoretical concept that actions are associated with their perceivable consequences through bidirectional associations. Past research has mostly investigated how these bidirectional associations are formed through actual behavior and perception of the consequences. The present research expands this idea by investigating how verbally formulated action-effect instructions contribute to action-effect learning. In two online experiments (Exp. 1, N = 41, student sample; Exp. 2, N = 349, non-student sample), participants memorized a specific action-effect instruction before completing a speeded categorization task. We assessed the consequences of the instructions by presenting the instructed effect as an irrelevant stimulus in the classification task and compared response errors and response times for instruction-compatible and instruction-incompatible responses. Overall, we found evidence that verbal action-effect instructions led to associations between an action and perception (effect) that are automatically activated upon encountering the previously verbally presented effect. In addition, we discuss preliminary evidence suggesting that the order of the action-effect components plays a role; only instructions in a perception-action order showed the expected effect. The present research contributes evidence to the idea that action-effect learning is not exclusively related to actual behavior but also achievable through verbally formulated instructions, thereby providing a flexible learning mechanism that does not rely on specific actual experiences.
Topics: Humans; Psychomotor Performance; Reaction Time; Learning; Students
PubMed: 35366101
DOI: 10.1007/s00426-022-01664-0 -
Psychology of Sport and Exercise Jan 2024The slowing of heart rate prior to movement onset has been presented as a marker of task-related cognitive processing and linked with performance accuracy. Here we...
The slowing of heart rate prior to movement onset has been presented as a marker of task-related cognitive processing and linked with performance accuracy. Here we examined this event-related bradycardia and task performance as a function of task difficulty. Forty experienced golfers completed a series of golf putting conditions that manipulated task difficulty by varying target distance, target size, and surface contour. Performance was measured by the number of holed putts and finishing distance from the hole. Physiological activity was recorded throughout. Analyses confirmed that performance varied as a function of task difficulty, worsening with longer distances to target, smaller targets, and sloping paths to target. Task difficulty also impacted the cardiac response, including the rate of heart rate deceleration, change in heart rate, and heart rate at impact. These heart rate metrics were found to correlate with performance strongly, moderately, and weakly, respectively. In conclusion, heart rate deceleration in the moments preceding movement onset was affected by task difficulty. Features of this cardiac deceleration pattern were characteristic of successful performance. Our findings are discussed in terms of the role of cognitive and motor processes during the execution of complex motor skills.
Topics: Humans; Psychomotor Performance; Bradycardia; Attention; Motor Skills; Task Performance and Analysis
PubMed: 37813271
DOI: 10.1016/j.psychsport.2023.102548 -
Psychological Research Sep 2022The sustained attention to response task (SART) has been used for over 20 years to assess participants' response times and inability to withhold to No-Go stimuli...
The sustained attention to response task (SART) has been used for over 20 years to assess participants' response times and inability to withhold to No-Go stimuli (commission errors). While there is debate in the literature regarding what causes commissions errors in the SART, there is agreement the SART is subject to a speed-accuracy trade-off (SATO). Researchers have demonstrated that performance on the SART can be influenced by directive instructions to participants to prioritize either speed or accuracy during the task. In the present study, we investigated whether real-time performance feedback and whether feedback emphasis (emphasizing speed or accuracy) affected participants' response times and accuracy. We found performance feedback per se had no impact on performance, but performance emphasis did affect performance, apparently shifting the SATO. This finding provides further evidence that the commission errors in the SART are not indicative of sustained attention or vigilance as those terms are commonly used in the literature, but more likely assess response strategy and motor control (or lack of motor control). These findings have implications for the psychological assessment literature, as well as applied areas where SART findings have been utilized such as shoot/no-shoot decision making.
Topics: Feedback; Humans; Psychomotor Performance; Reaction Time
PubMed: 34623490
DOI: 10.1007/s00426-021-01602-6 -
Scientific Reports Jan 2021It well-known that mental training improves skill performance. Here, we evaluated skill acquisition and consolidation after physical or motor imagery practice, by means...
It well-known that mental training improves skill performance. Here, we evaluated skill acquisition and consolidation after physical or motor imagery practice, by means of an arm pointing task requiring speed-accuracy trade-off. In the main experiment, we showed a significant enhancement of skill after both practices (72 training trials), with a better acquisition after physical practice. Interestingly, we found a positive impact of the passage of time (+ 6 h post training) on skill consolidation for the motor imagery training only, without any effect of sleep (+ 24 h post training) for none of the interventions. In a control experiment, we matched the gain in skill learning after physical training (new group) with that obtained after motor imagery training (main experiment) to evaluate skill consolidation after the same amount of learning. Skill performance in this control group deteriorated with the passage of time and sleep. In another control experiment, we increased the number of imagined trials (n = 100, new group) to compare the acquisition and consolidation processes of this group with that observed in the motor imagery group of the main experiment. We did not find significant differences between the two groups. These findings suggest that physical and motor imagery practice drive skill learning through different acquisition and consolidation processes.
Topics: Adult; Biomechanical Phenomena; Electromyography; Female; Humans; Male; Motor Skills; Neurosciences; Psychomotor Performance; Young Adult
PubMed: 33504870
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-81994-y