Spatial Conceptual Influences on the Coordination of Bimanual Actions: When a Dual Task Becomes a Single Task |
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Authors: | Elizabeth A Franz Howard N Zelaznik Stephan Swinnen Charles Walter |
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Institution: | 1. Department of Psychology , University of Otago;2. Department of Health, Kinesiology , Leisure Studies Purdue University;3. Department of Kinanthropology , Catholic University of Leuven , Belgium;4. School of Kinesiology , University of Illinois , Chicago |
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Abstract: | When the left and right hands produce 2 different rhythms simultaneously, coordination of the hands is difficult unless the rhythms can be integrated into a unified temporal pattern. In the present study, the authors investigated whether a similar account can be applied to the spatial domain. Participants (N = 8) produced a movement trajectory of semicircular form in single-limb and bimanual conditions. In the bimanual tasks, 1 limb moved above the other in the frontal plane. Bimanual unified tasks were constructed so that the spatial paths to be produced by the 2 limbs could be easily conceptualized as parts of a unified circle pattern. Bimanual distinct tasks availed a less obvious spatial pattern that would unify the 2 tasks. Performance of the spatial patterns was more accurate in the unified task, despite similar demands placed on the coordination dynamics between the limbs in the 2 cases (e.g., the phase relations). The authors conclude that a dual task becomes a single task, and interlimb interference is reduced, when the spatial patterns produced by the 2 hands form a geometric arrangement that can be conceptualized as a unified representation. |
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Keywords: | bimanual coordination complex action dual-task interference |
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