Temporal precision of interceptive action: differential effects of target size and speed.

Full Abstract

The duration of movements made to intercept moving targets decreases and movement speed increases when interception requires greater temporal precision. Changes in target size and target speed can have the same effect on required temporal precision, but the response to these changes differs:
changes in target speed elicit larger changes in response speed. A possible explanation is that people attempt to strike the target in a central zone that does not vary much with variation in physical target size:
the "effective size" of the target is relatively constant over changes in physical size. Three experiments are reported that test this idea. Participants performed two tasks:
(1). strike a moving target with a bat moved perpendicular to the path of the target; (2). press on a force transducer when the target was in a location where it could be struck by the bat. Target speed was varied and target size held constant in experiment 1. Target speed and size were co-varied in experiment 2, keeping the required temporal precision constant. Target size was varied and target speed held constant in experiment 3 to give the same temporal precision as experiment 1. Duration of hitting movements decreased and maximum movement speed increased with increases in target speed and/or temporal precision requirements in all experiments. The effects were largest in experiment 1 and smallest in experiment 3. Analysis of a measure of effective target size (standard deviation of strike locations on the target) failed to support the hypothesis that performance differences could be explained in terms of effective size rather than actual physical size. In the pressing task, participants produced greater peak forces and shorter force pulses when the temporal precision required was greater, showing that the response to increasing temporal precision generalizes to different responses. It is concluded that target size and target speed have independent effects on performance.

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Author information

Author/s: Tresilian, R (R); Oliver, J (J); Carroll, J (J);

Affiliation: School of Human Movement Studies, The University of Queensland, St Lucia 4072, Australia, jamest(-atsign-)hms.uq.edu.au

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Comparative Study; Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Experimental brain research. Experimentelle Hirnforschung. Expérimentation cérébrale (Exp Brain Res), published in Germany. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2003-Feb; vol 148 (issue 4) : pp 425-38

Dates: Created 2003/02/12; Completed 2003/04/28; Revised 2008/02/15;

PMID: 12582826, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adolescent
Adult
Analysis of Variance
Humans
Male
Motion Perception - physiology

Movement
Psychomotor Performance - physiology
Reaction Time
Size Perception - physiology
Space Perception - physiology
Time Perception - physiology

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