Effects of extended practice and movement time on motor control of a coincident timing task.

Abstract

Abstract The present study investigated the extent to which movement time (MT) and practice influenced subjects' use of feedback to make corrections in the spatial-temporal movement pattern of coincident timing responses. Subjects performed 400 coincident timing responses of either 250,500, or 1,000 milliseconds. Schmidt's (1972) index of preprograming (IP) was used to estimate the level of feedback involvement in controlling the movement while the spatial-temporal pattern of the response was characterized by fluctuations in the speed of the movement to the barrier. The analysis of the IP and the spatial-temporal pattern of the responses suggest that MT and not practice limits the extent to which a response is preprogramed, with rapid performance more likely to be preprogramed than slower performance. Indeed, in the 1,000-millisecond response, the movement pattern appeared to be adjusted in the terminal phase (i.e., near the barrier) by accelerating or decelerating the rate of movement.