Perceptual decoupling or motor decoupling?

The current investigation was conducted to elucidate whether errors of commission in the Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART) are indicators of perceptual or motor decoupling. Twenty-eight participants completed SARTs with motor and perceptual aspects of the task manipulated. The participants completed four different SART blocks whereby stimuli location uncertainty and stimuli acquisition were manipulated. In previous studies of more traditional sustained attention tasks stimuli location uncertainty reduces sustained attention performance. In the case of the SART the motor manipulation (stimuli acquisition), but not the perceptual manipulation (stimuli location uncertainty) significantly reduced commission errors. The results suggest that the majority of SART commission errors are likely to be indicators of motor decoupling not necessarily perceptual decoupling.     

Is cluttering a motor disorder?

A 15-year-old-boy was referred on account of a fluency disorder that was not thought to be stuttering. The problems of the lack of an adequate definition of cluttering are discussed along with the inherent problems of providing a wide-based assessment of this client group. Assessments were conducted on the motoric, linguistic, and intellectual abilities of this client, and the findings are discussed.     

Intersensory facilitation in the motor component?

Summary In the bimodal detection task the observer must respond as soon as a signal is presented in either of two modalities (e.g., a tone or a flash). A typical finding is a facilitation of reaction time for redundant signal trials, that is, when both signals are presented simultaneously or with a short delay. Models advanced for this effect imply either statistical facilitation (separate activation) or intersensory facilitation (coactivation). This paper reports a study investigating whether part of the facilitation can be accounted for by coactivation in the motor component. An analysis of the distributions of reaction time differences between left and right hand responses from a double response paradigm gave some evidence in favor of this hypothesis. In particular, our data suggest a u-shaped functional dependence of the amount of facilitation in the motor component on the interstimulus interval.     

Does motor programming necessitate response execution?

The complexity of a movement is known to affect the time it takes to initiate the movement. This effect is thought to reflect changes in the duration of processes that operate on a motor program. This question addressed here is whether programming a movement compels the start of its overt execution. If it does, then the programming processes may be said to occur after the "point of no return." We report results from an empirical procedure and a theoretical analysis designed to study processes before and after this point separately. According to our results, changes in the complexity of a movement affect only the prior set of processes. From this we argue that motor programming does not necessitate response execution and that the point of no return occurs very late in the information-processing system.     

Does motor encoding enhance relational information?

Summary Three experiments investigated whether learning action phrases by enacting the denoted action enhances organization or not. In the first experiment it was shown that, compared to a standard learning instruction, enacting did not enhance the clustering of episodic and taxonomic lists, but it did enhance memory performance. Furthermore, the enacting effect was strongest with an unrelated list; in all lists, organization and recall correlated only under a verbal instruction and not under an enacting instruction. In the second experiment, subjects were also informed about the categories of the lists and instructed to use them to learn the items. The organization was enhanced in all cases by this procedure, but the recall performance was enhanced only with a standard learning instruction. Under enacting, information about the categories had no influence. In the third experiment this effect was replicated for a taxonomic list and could be generalized for a motor list, in which categories were in accordance with the similarities of the movement pattern. Here too the explicit category information had an effect only under a standard learning instruction, but not with enacting. We interpret these effects as support for the assumption that enacting does not enhance memory performance by better relational information. Relational information is, on the contrary, less important for recall under enacting than under a standard learning instruction.     

Dynamic sensory–motor oscillation and cerebral development

Drawing from Freud’s Project, the author proposes a model of cerebral development whose sensory–motor structure is defined by a frontal–occipital oscillatory dynamic with a twofold function: the oscillation explains the formation and maintenance of mother–infant attunement in cerebral growth, while, at the same time, also explaining the functioning of the projective–introjective dynamic at the basis of psychoanalytic theory. The oscillatory dynamic, according to this perspective, operates as a “bridge” between two seminal theoretical models of developments—the psychoanalytic and the infant research model—which, in turn, leads to the formulation of some neurological hypotheses on how oscillation regulates the elaboration of maternal interaction in the infant’s brain, and how the mother may act to modify it. The paper discusses how the oscillatory dynamic offers an innovative framework for the reconceptualization of the development of mentalization, the function of mirror neurons, and, most interestingly, of the development of language, explaining the non-verbal properties of ordinary linguistic communication and the function of oscillation in the regulation of information exchange processing.     

Transcortical motor aphasia: One or two aphasias?

The name "transcortical motor aphasia" has been used to refer to two different types of language alterations: damage in the left supplementary motor area and Luria's dynamic aphasia. It is proposed that they represent two types of language disturbances different enough to be considered two different forms of aphasia.     

Auditory–motor learning influences auditory memory for music

In two experiments, we investigated how auditory–motor learning influences performers’ memory for music. Skilled pianists learned novel melodies in four conditions: auditory only (listening), motor only (performing without sound), strongly coupled auditory–motor (normal performance), and weakly coupled auditory–motor (performing along with auditory recordings). Pianists’ recognition of the learned melodies was better following auditory-only or auditory–motor (weakly coupled and strongly coupled) learning than following motor-only learning, and better following strongly coupled auditory–motor learning than following auditory-only learning. Auditory and motor imagery abilities modulated the learning effects: Pianists with high auditory imagery scores had better recognition following motor-only learning, suggesting that auditory imagery compensated for missing auditory feedback at the learning stage. Experiment 2 replicated the findings of Experiment 1 with melodies that contained greater variation in acoustic features. Melodies that were slower and less variable in tempo and intensity were remembered better following weakly coupled auditory–motor learning. These findings suggest that motor learning can aid performers’ auditory recognition of music beyond auditory learning alone, and that motor learning is influenced by individual abilities in mental imagery and by variation in acoustic features.     

Why might language and motor impairments occur together?

A step‐wise methodology is employed in order to identify common neurological factors underlying motor and language impairments where they occur together. A sample of 15 5–10‐year‐old children with predetermined language impairment was tested comprehensively using the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Ability (ITPA) and the Movement Assessment Battery for Children (Movement ABC). On the basis of these tests, only four of the sample were found to have generally poor performance both in psycholinguistic (particularly indexed by problems with visual closure and sound blending) and motor abilities (particularly indexed by manual dexterity problems—bimanual co‐ordination and drawing—and static balance. Further detailed examination of the findings fostered a number of plausible hypotheses to account for this communality. The viability of these different alternatives is discussed. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Anxiety and motor performance: Where to from here?

Abstract

The purpose of this paper was to briefly review the traditional existing theories attempting to explain the relationship between anxiety and motor performance and then suggest some future directions for research. Specifically, a review of drive theory and the inverted-U hypothesis led to the conclusion that due to methodological, conceptual and interpretive problems, these explanations for the anxiety-performance relationship are overly simplistic and lack heuristic value. Future research should focus on the interaction of psychobiological states as they relate to motor performance. Some specific suggestions include more precision in the measurement of anxiety as a multidimensional construct which includes psychophysiological, cognitive, and affective components. In addition, individual differences need to be recognized with intraindividual comparisons replacing between-subject comparisons. Hanin's zone of optimal functioning is offered as one such approach. Finally, more sensitivity and precision is needed in the measurement of performance by employing both qualitative and quantitative methodologies.     

What is the future for tool-specific generalized motor programs?

A key issue in cognitive sciences is to understand the cognitive bases of human tool use. Answers have been provided by two competing approaches. The manipulation-based approach assumes that humans can use tools because of the ability to store sensorimotor knowledge about how to manipulate tools. By contrast, for the reasoning-based approach, human tool use is based on the ability to reason about physical object properties. Recently, Caruana and Cuccio proposed a kind of reconciliation, based on the distinction between three types of abductive inference, involving a different contribution of motor and cognitive elements: Automatic abduction (motor + and cognitive-), abduction by selection (motor ± and cognitive±) and creative abduction (motor- and cognitive+). This perspective offers new interesting avenues. Nevertheless, it is also subject to several theoretical and epistemological limitations, which make it in its present form inappropriate for the study of the cognitive bases of human tool use. This article aims to discuss these limitations.     

Perceptual and motor congruency effects in time–space association

It is well established that temporal events are represented on a spatially oriented mental time line from left to right. Depending on the task characteristics, the spatial representation of time may be linked to different types of dimensions, including manual response codes and physical space codes. The aim of the present study was to analyze whether manual response and physical space codes are independent of each other or whether they interact when both types of information are involved in the task. The participants performed a temporal estimation task with two lateralized response buttons in four experiments. In the first experiment, the target stimuli were presented on the left side, at the center, or on the right side of the space, whereas the reference stimuli were always presented centrally. The reverse situation was presented in the second experiment. In the third experiment, both stimuli were presented in opposite spatial positions (e.g., left–right), whereas in the last experiment, both stimuli were presented in the same spatial position (e.g., left–left). In all experiments, perceptual and motor congruency effects were found, but no modulation of the congruency effects was found when both the perceptual and motor components were congruent. The results indicated that physical, spatial, and manual response codes are independent from each other for time–space associations, even when both codes are involved in the task. These results are discussed in terms of the “intermediate-coding” account.     

Hand-eye coordination: The role of “motor memory”

Ten Ss attempted to track a visual target, which was moved either by hand (test run) or by a tape recording of the same hand movements (control run). On some test runs, movement of the target lagged behind that of the hand by a fixed amount (.18, .36, .72, or 1.44 sec). The number of saccades occurring on a given test run was divided by the number on the matched control run, and the test/control ratio was studied as a function of the hand-to-target lag time. With lag times of .36 sec or less, the test/control ratios were less than 1. indicating that manual control of the target had a significant effect on oculomotor performance. This effect disappeared at a lag close to .72 sec. The results are discussed in terms of a hypothetical “motor memory.”     

When does imagery practice enhance performance on a motor task?

Imagery practice of motor tasks has been recommended for a wide range of activities as from flight training to basketball. A key question, both from a practical and a theoretical standpoint, is when during the learning process does imagery practice confer the most benefit? However, the literature does not provide clear guidance, in part because of methodological limitations. A 3 x 2 (physical practice x pretest-posttest) split-plot design was employed to investigate the effects of imagery practice on the acquisition of a discrete target at three different stages of learning. Analysis indicated that imagery practice was most beneficial in the early stages of learning and showed an inverse relationship between experience and efficacy of imagery practice. Results are discussed in terms of current theories of imagery practice and suggestions are made regarding when such practice might be best applied during skill development.     

Emotive concept nouns and motor responses: Attraction or repulsion?

We carried out three experiments aimed at testing whether hand posture affects the compatibility effect that Chen and Bargh (1999) found between a word’s emotional connotation and arm movement direction. In the present study, participants responded by pressing two buttons: one placed near their body, the other far away. In Experiment 1, in which they pressed the response button with their hand open, RTs were shorter when participants pressed the far button for positive words and the near button for negative words, as if they simulated reaching for something good and avoiding something bad. However, in Experiments 2 and 3, in which participants pressed the response button with a tennis ball in their hand, RTs were shorter when participants pressed the near button for positive words and the far button for negative words, as if they simulated drawing a good thing closer and pushing a bad thing away. Results are discussed within the framework of theories on concept grounding in emotion and action systems.     

The face inhibition effect: Social contrast or motor competition?

This research examined the relative importance of encoding and retrieval contexts to the demonstration of concreteness effects in memory. Predictions from relational-distinctive and dual-code positions were evaluated. In the first two experiments, concreteness and recall task (free recall or cued recall) were manipulated following a relational semantic orienting task. The results showed an interaction between concreteness and recall type only when distinctive information could be accessed both within and between pairs. The third experiment showed that concreteness effects appeared under a relational, non-semantic orienting task. In the fourth experiment, we reexamined the magnitude of the concreteness effect following semantic versus non-semantic tasks and relational versus item-specific processing. Overall, the findings were inconsistent with both dual code theory and distinctiverelational view accounts of concreteness effects. An alternative "bidirectionality hypothesis" is suggested.     

Fitts' reciprocal tapping task, a measure of motor capacity?

Employing Fitts' reciprocal tapping task, the capacity of the motor system in bits processed/second was assessed across different ages. In Exp. I a comparison was made among Grades 1, 5, 9, and university females. Motor capacity and average movement time/tap were significantly lower for Grade 1 girls than the other three grades. In addition, within-subject variability and percentage error rate decreased with increasing grade level. These findings were discussed in comparison to other studies looking at motor capacity changes across ages. Exp. II was designed to study the changes in motor capacity throughout 25 days of practice by two 5-yr.-old children. Two different methods were used to calculate motor capacity. One method (Kay, 1962) which assessed motor capacity separately for each tapping condition led to the conclusion that capacity increased with practice. A second method (Fitts & Peterson, 1964) treating all tapping conditions together in a regression equation and measuring capacity as the reciprocal of the slope (1/b) showed capacity to decrease with practice for one subject and oscillate with practice for the other subject. The general conclusion drawn from the two experiments was that motor capacity, as assessed by Fitts' tapping task, is not an extremely useful measure. Consideration of movement time is usually just as informative.     

Do cognitive factors in motor performance become nonfunctional with practice?

Cognitive factors in motor behavior were defined as verbal and imagery mediators for a discrete, sequential motor task. The question was asked whether these mediators become nonfunctional with extended practice. Non-motor interference training was given in inappropriate verbal and imagery mediation. If cognitive factors in the motor task involve verbal an/or imagery dimensions, and they dominate early in learning, then the non motor interference training should produce relatively large negative transfer effects in the motor performance early in learning and little or no such effects late in learning. The results did not conform to expectation; small negative transfer effects were found both early and late in learning. The discussion considered several possible reason for the outcome: the motor task was dominated by visual and proprioception factors rather than cognitive ones, the method of delivering knowledge of results may have minimized cognitive factors, or the hypothesis is wrong.