Abstract
Normal subjects were tested in short, repetitive trials of a tracking task, with an identical shape of target movement being used throughout one session. Analysis of the net error curves (pursuit minus target movement) revealed that subjects regularly exhibit a remoteness effect: neighbouring trials were more similar than distant ones. The effect is demonstrated to be stronger in the absence of visual cues, and was found to be absent in a patient with complete loss of proprioception when he was performing without visual feedback as well. The results are discussed in terms of a short term memory store contributing to unconscious movement habits in tracking. This may represent part of the motor learning process working together with conscious visuo-motor control mechanisms. Its function is probably related to the acquisition of automatic movements.
Highlights
Subjects who are tested on consecutive trials of a motor task tend to obtain similar scores in neighbouring trials
Types rif errors Twelve inexperienced subjects were tested on a pseudo-random pursuit tracking task
Within-session comparison of the tracking error curves revealed that the subjects tended to make similar errors at similar points of the trials throughout the session ("local" errors)
Summary
Subjects who are tested on consecutive trials of a motor task tend to obtain similar scores in neighbouring trials. We demonstrate a recurrence of characteristic single errors as a parallel to the everyday phenomenon of error perseverance in motor sequences, which is familiar to musicians and secretaries: a typing error made, for instance, in the middle of a page has the fatal tendency to reoccur in exactly the same position when the page is retyped. We suggest that these motor habits develop under the influence of a memory store.
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