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An optimal velocity for online limb-target regulation processes?

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Abstract

The utilization of visual information for the control of ongoing voluntary limb movements has been investigated for more than a century. Recently, online sensorimotor processes for the control of upper-limb reaches were hypothesized to include a distinct process related to the comparison of limb and target positions (i.e., limb-target regulation processes: Elliott et al. in Psychol Bull 136:1023–1044. doi:10.1037/a0020958, 2010). In the current study, this hypothesis was tested by presenting participants with brief windows of vision (20 ms) when the real-time velocity of the reaching limb rose above selected velocity criteria. One experiment tested the perceptual judgments of endpoint bias (i.e., under- vs. over-shoot), and another experiment tested the shifts in endpoint distributions following an imperceptible target jump. Both experiments revealed that limb-target regulation processes take place at an optimal velocity or “sweet spot” between movement onset and peak limb velocity (i.e., 1.0 m/s with the employed movement amplitude and duration). In contrast with pseudo-continuous models of online control (e.g., Elliott et al. in Hum Mov Sci 10:393–418. doi:10.1016/0167-9457(91)90013-N, 1991), humans likely optimize online limb-target regulation processes by gathering visual information at a rather limited period of time, well in advance of peak limb velocity.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the University of Toronto, the Ontario Research Fund and the Canada Foundation for Innovation. The authors also wish to thank Dr. Claude Prablanc for his suggestions that led to the design of the target jump experiment.

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Correspondence to Luc Tremblay.

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Tremblay, L., Crainic, V.A., de Grosbois, J. et al. An optimal velocity for online limb-target regulation processes?. Exp Brain Res 235, 29–40 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-016-4770-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-016-4770-x

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