The timing of color and location processing in the motor context

Abstract 

In this study, the use of color and location as stimulus attributes manipulated during a simple action was aimed at comparing how dorsal (location) and ventral (color) features are integrated in action and the timing of their processing. Eighteen subjects were presented with a green dot on a computer screen, which they were required to point at and touch. In 20% of the trials, the location or the color of the target was altered at the onset of movement to this stimulus, requiring the participant to modify the initially programmed response according to specific motor instructions. In the ’location-go’ group, the target changed in location and participants were instructed to reach the displaced stimulus by correcting their ongoing movement. In the ’location-stop’ and ’color-stop’ groups, subjects were instructed to interrupt their movement when the target changed location or color, respectively. Results showed that the latency of the first responses to the perturbation clearly depended on the stimulus attribute and not on the motor instruction tested: the response to color change was obtained about 80 ms later than both conditions involving location change. It is concluded that: (1) color processing is slower than location processing, and (2) the first reactions to the location change occur after the same delay irrespective of the response required from the subject.