Title :

Testing the co-existence of two timing strategies for motor control in a unique task: The synchronisation spatial-tapping task

Author(s) :

Dione, Mariama [Auteur]
Laboratoire Sciences Cognitives et Sciences Affectives - UMR 9193 [SCALab]
Delevoye, Yvonne [Auteur]
Laboratoire Sciences Cognitives et Sciences Affectives - UMR 9193 [SCALab]

Journal title :

Human Movement Science

Abbreviated title :

Hum Mov Sci

Volume number :

43

Pages :

45-60

Publication date :

2015-10

ISSN :

1872-7646

English keyword(s) :

Timing control
Rhythmicity
Spatial control
Anchor point
Coexistence
Trajectory

HAL domain(s) :

Sciences cognitives

English abstract : [en]

The control of rhythmic action sequences may involve two distinct timing strategies, i.e., event-based and emergent timing, which are usually revealed through finger-tapping and circle-drawing tasks, respectively. There ...
Show more >The control of rhythmic action sequences may involve two distinct timing strategies, i.e., event-based and emergent timing, which are usually revealed through finger-tapping and circle-drawing tasks, respectively. There is a lively debate concerning the possibility of coexistence of the two modes of timing for the execution of a single task. If one considers emergent timing as simply an absence of explicit representation of a time interval, then by definition, the two modes of timing cannot coexist. However, if one considers that emergent timing engages control of another motor parameter, e.g., a control of movement through space rather than time, then the possibility of coexistence needs to be reassessed. In the present study, we designed a hybrid of finger-tapping and circle-drawing tasks for which the demands for space and time control were present at the same time in order to reassess the coexistence hypothesis. Seventy-eight participants performed a spatial-tapping task in which finger taps were to be produced in synchrony with a regular metronome to 6 visual targets presented around a virtual circle. The metronome set ten distinct tempi (1100-300 ms). Using autocorrelation analyses on timing variables, we show that motor timing was event-based at slow tempi and emergent at faster tempi. Through an analysis of the trajectory, we confirm that an increase in the spatial control of movement took place congruently with a switch from event-based to emergent timing modes. At these fast tempi, timing and spatial errors were correlated but only at the specific target location for which a dynamical anchor point was revealed. Hence, we conclude that the coding of emergent timing has a spatial nature from which emerge timing regularities. This spatio-temporal strategy insures the performance of sequential motor actions when cognitive effort is too high for the use of pure event-based timing strategies.Show less >

Language :

Anglais

Audience :

Non spécifiée

Administrative institution(s) :

Université de Lille
CNRS
CHU Lille

Collections :

• Sciences Cognitives et Sciences Affectives (SCALab) - UMR 9193

Research team(s) :

Équipe Action, Vision et Apprentissage (AVA)

Submission date :

2019-02-13T14:50:47Z
2020-04-20T08:18:59Z