Visual and tactile action effects determine bimanual coordination performance

Markus Janczyk , Stefanie Skirde , Matthias Weigelt , Wilfried Kunde

Effect-based models of motor control assign a crucial role to anticipated perceptual feedback in action planning. Two experiments were conducted to test the validity of this proposal for discrete bimanual key press responses. The results revealed that the normally observed performance advantage for the preparation of two responses with homologous rather than non-homologous fingers becomes inverted when homologous fingers produce non-identical visual effects, and non-homologous fingers produce identical visual effects. In Experiment 2 the finger homology effect was strongly reduced when homologous fingers produced non-identical tactile feedback. The results show that representations of to-be-produced visual and tactile action effects both contribute to action planning, though possibly to a varying degree. Implications of these results for effect-based models of motor control are considered.

Mots clés: Motor coordination; intention; reaction time; 2300 Human Experimental Psychology; 2330 Motor Processes; 2340 Cognitive Processes

Markus Janczyk, Stefanie Skirde, Matthias Weigelt, Wilfried Kunde. Visual and tactile action effects determine bimanual coordination performance. Human Movement Science, 2009, 28 (4), pp.437. ⟨10.1016/j.humov.2009.02.006⟩. ⟨hal-00557314⟩