Visual-Propriocetive Correspondence in the Para-Median Plane

2 experiments in which Ss matched a proprioceptively perceived stylus to a visual target in the para-median plane show that Ss make idiosyncratic errors which are stable over periods of at least several days. A technique for comparing visual and proprioceptive spaces is used to Show how matching errors vary within the para-median plane. These errors are interpreted as the result of inadequate inter-calibration of visual and proprioceptive space perception, and their implications for movement control are discussed.     

Visual Feedback and Positioning Movements

Subjects (n = 60) performed both the reproduction and learning of a linear positioning movement under one of five visual feedback conditions. Results from two experiments indicated that visual cues from the task display augmented information available from visual feedback of the movement per se. Extraneous cues from the task display have clearly confounded the manipulation of visual feedback in previous positioning studies. When these cues are eliminated, visual distance information seems more useful than visual location information.     

Reducing Knowledge of Results about Relative versus Absolute Timing: Differential Effects on Learning

The purpose of the present experiment was to examine further earlier suggestions that a reduced relative frequency of knowledge of results (KR) can enhance the learning of generalized motor programs (GMPs) but at the same time degrade parameter learning, compared with giving KR after every trial (Wulf & Schmidt, 1989; Wulf, Schmidt, & Deubel, 1993). In contrast to these earlier studies, here KR was given separately for relative timing and absolute timing. Subjects practiced three movement patterns that required the same relative timing but different absolute movement times. KR was provided on 100% or 50% of the practice trials for relative timing or absolute timing, respectively. In retention and transfer tests, the groups that had had 50% KR about relative timing demonstrated more effective learning of the relative-timing structure, that is, GMP learning, than the groups that had had 100% KR about relative timing. The KR frequency had no effect on parameterization during retention; yet, when transfer to a task with a novel overall duration was required, the groups given 100% KR about absolute timing were more accurate in parameterization than the groups provided with 50% KR about absolute timing. Thus, the reduced relative KR frequency enhanced GMP learning but had no beneficial effect, or even a degrading effect, on parameter learning. The differential effects of a reduced KR frequency on the learning of relative timing and absolute timing also provide additional support for the dissociation of GMP and parameterization processes.     

Schema Theory: A Critical Appraisal and Reevaluation

The authors replicated and extended results from the gunfight paradigm (A. Welchman, J. Stanley, M. Schomers, R. Miall, & H. Bulthoff, 2010a) in which participants moved faster when reacting to the perceived initiation of an opponent compared to initiating an action themselves. In addition to replicating these movement time effects, the authors found that time to peak velocity, peak velocity, and movement-endpoint dispersions were similarly impacted. The findings are discussed in terms of a triggering mechanism involved in ballistic and internally generated movements.     

Visual Feedback of Target Position Affects Accuracy of Sequential Movements at Even Spaces

The role of visual feedback during movement is attributed to its accuracy, but findings regarding the utilization of this information are inconsistent. We developed a novel dot-placing task to investigate the role of vision in arm movements. Participants conducted pointing-like movements between two target stimuli at even spaces. In Experiment 1, visual feedback of targets and response positions was manipulated. Although visual loss of target stimuli hindered accuracy of movements, the absence of the position of previously placed dots had little effect. In Experiment 2, the effect of movement time on accuracy was assessed, as the relationship between these has been traditionally understood as a speed/accuracy trade-off. Results revealed that duration of movement did not impact movement accuracy.     

编码与提取方式对生成效应的影响

实验采用两种编码方式和测验类型考查了编码与提取方式的一致性对生成效应的影响。结果显示：(1)在进行字形加工的知觉辨认测验中,生成过程主要依据字形编码的形近字出现了生成效应;主要依据字义编码的反义字没有出现此效应。(2)在依赖字义提取的自由回忆中,形近字和反义字都出现了生成效应。因而编码与提取方式的一致性可能对生成效应有影响。     

Observing repetitive finger movements modulates response times of auditorily cued finger movements

Our motor and perceptual representations of actions seem to be intimately linked and the human mirror neuron system (MNS) has been proposed as the mediator. In two experiments, we presented biological or non-biological movement stimuli that were either congruent or incongruent to a required response prompted by a tone. When the tone occurred with the onset of the last movement in a series, i.e., it was perceived during the movement presentation, congruent biological stimuli resulted in faster reaction times than congruent non-biological stimuli. The opposite was observed for incongruent stimuli. When the tone was presented after visual movement stimulation, however, no such interaction was present. This implies that biological movement stimuli only affect motor behaviour during visual processing but not thereafter. These data suggest that the MNS is an "online" system; longstanding repetitive visual stimulation (Experiment 1) has no benefit in comparison to only one or two repetitions (Experiment 2).     

明式家具和现代家具审美偏好的眼动研究

本研究采用EyelinkⅡ眼动仪对不同类型家具的审美偏好进行考察,共有36名不同年龄被试参与实验。结果发现:(1)不同类型家具的总注视时间、总注视次数和平均注视次数均存在显著差异,明式家具显著多于现代家具;(2)不同家具类型兴趣区的总注视次数存在显著差异,明式家具显著多于现代家具;(3)不同年龄被试的总注视时间、总注视次数和平均注视次数不存在显著差异,即年龄因素对被试的审美偏好没有影响。     

Motion as a natural category for pigeons: Generalization and a feature-positive effect

Three groups of pigeons were trained with a modified discriminative autoshaping procedure to discriminate video images of other pigeons on the basis of movement. Birds of all groups were shown the same video images of other pigeons, which were either moving or still. The group to whom food was presented only after moving images learned the discrimination very quickly. A second group, to whom food was given only after still images, and a pseudocategory group, to whom food was presented after arbitrarily chosen stimuli, showed no evidence of discrimination during acquisition training. Extinction conditions led to clear differences in peck rates to moving and still images in the second group but not in the pseudocategory group. The result is related to the feature-positive effect. Generalization tests showed that the discrimination performance was based on visual features of the stimuli but was invariant against changes of size, perspective, brightness, and color. Furthermore, discrimination was maintained when novel images of pigeons under different viewing angles and seven other types of motion categories were presented. It is argued that the discrimination is based not on a common motion feature but on motion concepts or high-order generalization across motion categories.