Gender-specific movement strategies using a computer-pointing task

Females typically demonstrate a movement time advantage for tasks requiring high levels of manual dexterity, whereas males are notably better at targeting activities. According to D. Kimura (2000), the hunter-gatherer hypothesis primarily accounts for those performance advantages; that dichotomy fails, however, when one makes movement outcome predictions for tasks that are not clearly fine-motor or interceptive in nature. Investigators have recently proposed that time constraints (M. Peters, 2005) and gender-specific response style differences (M. Peters & P. Campagnaro, 1996; L. E. Rohr, 2006) affect motor performance. Here, the author used a computer-pointing task measuring both movement error and movement time in 16 participants to further investigate response style differences. Kinematic and linear regression analyses between resultant error and both movement time and task difficulty reinforced the notion that gender-specific movement biases emphasize speed and accuracy, respectively, for men and women.     

Upper and lower limb reciprocal tapping: evidence for gender biases

According to D. Kimura's (2000) interpretation of the hunter-gatherer hypothesis, men are better at targeting tasks and women are better at fine-motor tasks because of their evolutionary experiences. The author applied that hypothesis to a lower limb pointing task, a task uninfluenced by hunting and gathering experience throughout history. Participants (39 women, 35 men) completed the P. M. Fitts (1954) task by using both their dominant right hand and foot. Results suggested that for both the upper and lower limbs, men move faster, particularly for the more difficult tasks. The hunter-gatherer hypothesis does not predict those data; rather, linear regression data suggest that gender differences in movement strategies affect motor performance. The author proposes that men and women preferentially adopt distinct strategies emphasizing speed for men and accuracy for women.     

Performance dissociation during verbal and spatial working memory tasks

Past research has inconsistently distinguished the neural substrates of various types of working memory. Task design and individual performance differences are known to alter patterns of brain response during working-memory tasks. These task and individual differences may have produced discrepancies in imaging findings. This study of 50 healthy adults (M(age) = 19.6 yr., SD = .8) examined performance during various parametric manipulations of a verbal and spatial n-back working-memory task. Performance systematically dissociated on the basis of working-memory load, working memory type, and stimulus difficulty, with participants having greater accuracy but slower response time during conditions requiring verbal versus spatial working memory. These findings hold implications for cognitive and neuroimaging studies of verbal and spatial working memory and highlight the importance of considering both task design and individual behavior.     

Synchronization in repetitive smooth movement requires perceptible events

Accurate timing performance during auditory–motor synchronization has been well documented for finger tapping tasks. It is believed that information pertaining to an event in movement production aids in detecting and correcting for errors between movement cycle completion and the metronome tone. Tasks with minimal event-related information exhibit more variable synchronization and less rapid error correction. Recent work from our laboratory has indicated that a task purportedly lacking an event structure (circle drawing) did not exhibit accurate synchronization or error correction (Studenka & Zelaznik, in press). In the present paper we report on two experiments examining synchronization in tapping and circle drawing tasks. In Experiment 1, error correction processes of an event-timed tapping timing task and an emergently timed circle drawing timing task were examined. Rapid and complete error correction was seen for the tapping, but not for the circle drawing task. In Experiment 2, a perceptual event was added to delineate a cycle in circle drawing, and the perceptual event of table contact was removed from the tapping task. The inclusion of an event produced a marked improvement in synchronization error correction for circle drawing, and the removal of tactile feedback (taking away an event) slightly reduced the error correction response of tapping. Furthermore, the task kinematics of circle drawing remained smooth providing evidence that event structure can be kinematic or perceptual in nature. Thus, synchronization and error correction, characteristic of event timing (Ivry, Spencer, Zelaznik, & Diedrichsen, 2002; Repp, 2005), depends upon the presence of a distinguishable source of sensory information at the timing goal.     

Erroneous knowledge of results affects decision and memory processes on timing tasks

On mental timing tasks, erroneous knowledge of results (KR) leads to incorrect performance accompanied by the subjective judgment of accurate performance. Using the start-stop technique (an analogue of the peak interval procedure) with both reproduction and production timing tasks, the authors analyze what processes erroneous KR alters. KR provides guidance (performance error information) that lowers decision thresholds. Erroneous KR also provides targeting information that alters response durations proportionately to the magnitude of the feedback error. On the production task, this shift results from changes in the reference memory, whereas on the reproduction task this shift results from changes in the decision threshold for responding. The idea that erroneous KR can alter different cognitive processes on related tasks is supported by the authors' demonstration that the learned strategies can transfer from the reproduction task to the production task but not visa versa. Thus effects of KR are both task and context dependent.     

The relationship between task difficulty and motor performance complexity

Difficult tasks are commonly equated with complex tasks across many behaviors. Motor task difficulty is traditionally defined via Fitts’ law, using evaluation criteria based on spatial movement constraints. Complexity of data is typically evaluated using non-linear computational approaches. In this project, we investigate the potential to evaluate task difficulty via behavioral (motor performance) complexity in a Fitts-type task. Use of non-linear approaches allows for inclusion of many features of motor actions that are not currently included in the Fitts-type paradigm. Our results indicate that tasks defined as more difficult (using Fitts movement IDs) are not associated with complex motor behaviors; rather, an inverse relationship exists between these two concepts. Use of non-linear techniques allowed for the detection of behavioral differences in motor performance over the entire action trajectory in the presence of action errors and among neutrally co-constrained effectors not detected using traditional Fitts’-type analyses utilizing movement time measures. Our findings indicate that task difficulty may potentially be inferred using non-linear measures, particularly in ecological situations that do not obey the Fitts-type testing paradigm. While we are optimistic regarding these initial findings, further work is needed to assess the full potential of the approach.     

Athletic background is related to superior trunk proprioceptive ability,postural control,and neuromuscular responses to sudden perturbations

Trunk motor control is essential for athletic performance, and inadequate trunk motor control has been linked to an increased risk of developing low back and lower limb injury in athletes. Research is limited in comparing relationships between trunk neuromuscular control, postural control, and trunk proprioception in athletes from different sporting backgrounds. To test for these relationships, collegiate level long distance runners and golfers, along with non-athletic controls were recruited. Trunk postural control was investigated using a seated balance task. Neuromuscular control in response to sudden trunk loading perturbations was measured using electromyography and kinematics. Proprioceptive ability was examined using active trunk repositioning tasks. Both athlete groups demonstrated greater trunk postural control (less centre of pressure movement) during the seated task compared to controls. Athletes further demonstrated faster trunk muscle activation onsets, higher muscle activation amplitudes, and less lumbar spine angular displacement in response to sudden trunk loading perturbations when compared to controls. Golfers demonstrated less absolute error and variable error in trunk repositioning tasks compared to both runners and controls, suggestive of greater proprioceptive ability. This suggests an interactive relationship between neuromuscular control, postural control, and proprioception in athletes, and that differences exist between athletes of various training backgrounds.     

Effects of smoking abstinence on movement regulation

The effect of smoking abstinence on performance of a reciprocal tapping task was investigated. 6 habitual smokers performed a single-plate and two versions of a two-plate tapping task. Fitts' Law was used to compute an index of difficulty (ID) in bits for the tasks which was 0 bits for the single-plate and 3.32 and 4.17 bits for the two-plate versions of the task. While smoking abstinence had no effect on performance of the single-plate tapping task, it increased movement time on performance of both two-plate task versions. These findings may provide a coherent explanation for the prior findings of nicotine deprivation on psychomotor performance in the literature. This explanation suggests that the effects of nicotine deprivation as incurred through smoking abstinence may be on the central mechanisms regulating information-processing rate for successful movement regulation. Thus nicotine deprivation may not affect performance of simple psychomotor tasks which require minimal information processing but will affect the performance of more complex tasks requiring significantly more information processing for successful movement regulation.     

The effects of temporal-precision and time-minimization constraints on the spatial and temporal accuracy of aimed hand movements

Discrete aimed hand movements, made by subjects given temporal-accuracy and time-minimization task instructions, were compared. Movements in the temporal-accuracy task were made to a point target with a goal movement time of 400 ms. A circular target then was manufactured that incorporated the measured spatial errors from the temporal-accuracy task, and subjects attempted to contact the target with a minimum movement time and without missing the circular target (time-minimization task instructions). This procedure resulted in equal movement amplitude and approximately equal spatial accuracy for the two task instructions. Movements under the time-minimization instructions were completed rapidly (M = 307 ms) without target misses, and tended to be made up of two submovements. In contrast, movements under temporal-accuracy instructions were made more slowly (M = 397 ms), matching the goal movement time, and were typically characterized by a single submovement. These data support the hypothesis that movement times, at a fixed movement amplitude versus target width ratio, decrease as the number of submovements increases, and that movements produced under temporal-accuracy and time-minimization have different control characteristics. These control differences are related to the linear and logarithmic speed-accuracy relations observed for temporal-accuracy and time-minimization tasks, respectively.     

Switching of response modalities

When participants perform a sequence of different tasks, it is assumed that the engagement in one task leads to the inhibition of the previous task. This inhibition persists and impairs performance when participants switch back to this (still inhibited) task after only one intermediate trial. Previous task-switching studies on this issue have defined different tasks at the level of stimulus categorization. In our experiments we used different response modalities to define tasks. Participants always used the same stimulus categorization (e.g., categorize a digit as odd vs. even), but had to give a vocal, finger, or foot response (A, B, or C). Our results showed a higher reaction time and error rate in ABA sequences than in CBA sequences, indicating n - 2 repetition cost as a marker for persisting task inhibition. We assume that different response modalities can define a task and are inhibited in a “task switch” in the same way as stimulus categories are inhibited.     

On the Nature of the Probe Reaction-Time Task to Uncover the Attentional Demands of Movement

McLeod (1980) reported some findings which showed that no phase of a movement was more attention-demanding than the other phases, contrary to all the results previously reported (e.g., Ells, 1973; Glencross, 1980). However, McLeod used a paradigm in which the two tasks were serial. Each task consisted of a series of 50 reaction time (RT) trials and/or 50 aiming movement trials. In addition to this, the interval of time between a response and the following signal within each series was constant. In order to try to replicate McLeod’s findings, two experiments were conducted in which the response-signal interval was manipulated. The hypothesis was that time certainty associated with a constant interval would facilitate the allocation of time and would thus artificially reduce the interference between tasks. In Experiment I, manual responses were used for the RT task; in Experiment II, they were vocal. Manipulation of the response-signal interval does not change one of the conclusions reached by McLeod: when the RT task involves vocal responses and the results on the RT task are analyzed in terms of response rather than stimulus arrival during the movement, then there is no phase of the movement which is more attention-demanding than the other phases. However, the results of Experiment II in which both the vocal RT task and the movement task significantly deteriorated in the dual-task condition were taken as an indication that the movement studied involved central attentional demands.     

The role of verbal estimates of movement error in ballistic skill acquisition

The role of verbal estimates of movement error in a ballistic movement task was investigated. Two groups performed a rapid linear movement timing task for 50 trials with KR followed by 50 trials without KR. Group I was required to give a verbal estimate of movement time immediately after the task, while Group II was not. Verbal labeling of movement error did not augment performance when KR was present. When KR was withdrawn, however, Group I maintained performance, but Group II's response accuracy declined. Implications for current motor learning theories are discussed.     

On the nature of the probe reaction-time task to uncover the attentional demands of movement

McLeod (1980) reported some findings which showed that no phase of a movement was more attention-demanding than the other phases, contrary to all the results previously reported (e.g., Ells, 1973; Glencross, 1980). However, McLeod used a paradigm in which the two tasks were serial. Each task consisted of a series of 50 reaction time (RT) trials and/or 50 aiming movement trials. In addition to this, the interval of time between a response and the following signal within each series was constant. In order to try to replicated McLeod's findings, two experiments were conducted in which the response-signal interval was manipulated. The hypothesis was that time certainty associated with a constant interval would facilitate the allocation of time and would thus artificially reduce the interference between tasks. In Experiment 1, manual responses were used for the RT task; in Experiment II, they were vocal. Manipulation of the response-signal interval does not change one of the conclusions reached by McLeod: when the RT task involves vocal responses and the results on the RT task are analyzed in terms of response rather than stimulus arrival during the movement, then there is no phase of the movement which is more attention-demanding than the other phases. However, the results of Experiment II in which both the vocal RT task and the movement task significantly deteriorated in the dual-task condition were taken as an indication that the movement studied involved central attentional demands.     

Measurement of auditory cues in drivers' distraction

A driving simulator was used to examine the effects on driving performance of auditory cues in an in-vehicle information search task. Drivers' distraction by the search tasks was measured on a peripheral detection task. The difficulty of the search task was systematically varied to test the distraction caused by a quantified visual load. 58 participants completed the task. Performance on both search tasks and peripheral detection tasks was measured by mean response time and percent error. Analyses indicated that in-vehicle information search performance can be severely degraded when a target is located within a group of diverse distractors. Inclusion of an auditory cue in the visual search increased the mean response time as a result of a change in modality from auditory to visual. Inclusion of such an auditory cue seemed to influence distraction as measured by performance on the peripheral detection task; accuracy was lower when auditory cues were provided, and responses were slower when no auditory cues were provided. Distraction by the auditory cue varied according to the difficulty of the search task.     

Eye-Hand Coordination in Rhythmical Pointing

The authors investigated the relation between hand kinematics and eye movements in 2 variants of a rhythmical Fitts's task in which eye movements were necessary or not necessary. P. M. Fitts's (1954) law held in both conditions with similar slope and marginal differences in hand-kinematic patterns and movement continuity. Movement continuity and eye—hand synchronization were more directly related to movement time than to task index of difficulty. When movement time was decreased to fewer than 350 ms, eye—hand synchronization switched from continuous monitoring to intermittent control. The 1:1 frequency ratio with stable π/6 relative phase changed for 1:3 and 1:5 frequency ratios with less stable phase relations. The authors conclude that eye and hand movements in a rhythmical Fitts's task are dynamically synchronized to produce the best behavioral performance.     

Developmental changes in children's abilities to share and allocate attention in a dual task

Characterizing developmental changes in children's dual-task performance has been problematic because differences in divided attention abilities are easily confounded with differences in overall capacity. Two experiments showed that after individual differences in children's capacity for single-task performance were controlled for, age differences between second- (M = 8.1 years) and fifth-grade (M = 11.1 years) children did not exist in dual-task performance when tasks were of equal priority. However, when tasks had different priorities, only fifth-grade children could differentially allocate attention in the dual task. Results are discussed within the coordination hypothesis framework (see A. F. Kramer & J. L. Larish, 1996), which suggests that changes in dual-task performance with aging are due to changes in the ability to coordinate and control the allocation of attention. It is argued that linking the investigations of children's attention with research on attention and aging provides both methodological and theoretical benefits.     

Solution strategies as possible explanations of individual and sex differences in a dynamic spatial task

When individuals perform spatial tasks, individual differences emerge in accuracy and speed as well as in the response patterns used to cope with the task. The purpose of this study is to identify, through empirical criteria, the different response patterns or strategies used by individuals when performing the dynamic spatial task presented in the Spatial Orientation Dynamic Test-Revised (SODT-R). Results show that participants can be classified according to their response patterns. Three different ways of solving a task are described, and their relation to (a) performance factors (response latency, response frequency, and invested time) and (b) ability tests (analytical reasoning, verbal reasoning, and spatial estimation) are investigated. Sex differences in response patterns and performance are also analyzed. It is found that the frequency with which men and women employ each one of the strategies described here, is different and statistically significant. Thus, employed strategy plays an important role when interpreting sex differences on dynamic spatial tasks.     

A speeded coding task using a computer-based mouse response

This study assessed whether a speeded coding task that used a computer-based mouse response (CBMR) format was a measure of general processing speed (Gs). By analyzing the task within a network of tasks representing both traditional Gs tests and reaction time tasks, it was shown that a CBMR test can be used to measure the same construct as traditional paper-and-pencil (PP) tests and that this response format does not introduce variance associated with psychomotor performance. Differences between PP and CBMR formats were observed, and it is argued that these may provide information on individual differences in performance not available from traditional coding tests.     

Gender differences in attributions about microcomputer learning in elementary school

To investigate whether girls' attributions about computer use were more likely to follow a pattern of learned helplessness, boys' and girls' attributions about a computerized drill-and-practice task and a tutorial program were assessed. Factor analysis of responses on an attribution questionnaire revealed three factors that differed across gender and across task. Multiple regression, using exposure time, group size, attributions, and interactions to predict posttest scores, showed different patterns for boys and girls and between tasks. For the drill-and-practice task, girls benefited from increased exposure time, and attributions to ease of task and ability predicted performance for both boys and girls. For the tutorial task, increased exposure time did not benefit either sex. Girls, however, benefitted from working in larger groups, while boys benefitted from working in smaller groups. Attributions to luck, as well as perceptions of ability and ease of task, predicted posttest scores. However, for girls, attributions to luck predicted higher scores, while for boys, attributions to luck were negatively correlated with performance. Implications for including appropriate feedback to encourage a mastery approach in computer learning, as well as optimal group size and group composition for positive attributional style and academic success, are discussed.This research was supported by Concordia University and the Fonds Pour la Formation des Chercheurs et l'Aide a la Recherche (Grant EQ-2951), Government of Quebec, Canada.The authors wish to thank Ms. Patricia Peters for assistance with the statistical analysis, and Dr. Philip Abrami, for his contribution to the project.     

Generalization of error detection across motor tasks by men and women

One of the cornerstones of the human motor learning process is the ability to self-detect and self-correct movement errors. However, despite their importance, relatively little research has been done on these topics. One unanswered question is whether error detection is a general ability or one specific to the task to be learned. To investigate this issue, 66 college-age participants (49 women and 17 men) performed four motor learning tasks: an anticipation-timing task, a slow arm-positioning task, a rapid arm-movement task (400-msec. goal), and a tone-duration production task (400-msec. goal). 50 practice trials were provided on each task, 35 with knowledge of results (KR) and 15 without KR. Participants verbally estimated error on all trials before KR was given, except for the slow positioning task on which overall error in performance was the measure of error detection. Error detection was developed for each task but transfer of this ability only occurred when two tasks shared the same movement pattern. Men performed better on anticipation-timing than women, but men and women detected errors equally well on all tasks.