The role of vision in repetitive circle drawing

doi:10.1016/0001-6918(95)00007-0

Acta Psychologica

Volume 92, Issue 1, June 1996, Pages 105-118

https://doi.org/10.1016/0001-6918(95)00007-0 Get rights and content

Abstract

In the present experiment the role of vision in the control of repetitive circular movements was examined. Subjects drew circles at a 600 ms per circle rate. During the first nine seconds of the trial subjects moved with full vision and were paced by a metronome. During the latter 15 seconds, vision could be removed and/or the pacing signal could be removed. There were no effects of the pacing signal on the temporal and spatial characteristics of the circle. Withdrawal of vision did not affect the shape of the circle, but did change its scaler quality. The circles became smaller and the center drifted in a systematic fashion. Furthermore, the loss of vision produced an increase in variability in the circle shape, size and location. It is clear that in a simple task such as circle drawing, vision serves not as a source of information about form, but to maintain a stable and consistent form.

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One of the questions yet to be fully understood is to what extent the properties of the sensory and the movement information interact to facilitate sensorimotor integration. In this study, we examined the relative contribution of the continuity compatibility between motor goals and their sensory outcomes in timing variability. The variability of inter-response intervals was measured in a synchronization-continuation paradigm. Participants performed two repetitive movement tasks whereby they drew circles either using continuous or discontinuous self-paced movements while receiving discrete or continuous auditory feedback. The results demonstrated that the effect of perceptual-motor continuity compatibility may be limited in self-paced auditory-motor synchronization as timing variability was not significantly influenced by the continuity of the feedback or the continuity compatibility between feedback and the movement produced. In addition, results suggested that the presence of salient perceptual events marking the completion of the time intervals elicited a common timing process in both continuous and discontinuous circle drawing, regardless of the continuity of the auditory feedback. These findings open a new line of investigation into the role of the discriminability and reliability of the event-based information in determining the nature of the timing mechanisms engaged in continuous and discontinuous self-paced rhythmic movements.
Limb position drift results from misalignment of proprioceptive and visual maps
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This finding appeared paradoxical because it indicates that proprioceptive information was accurate for modulating muscle activations with drift-dependent changes in limb configuration, but this detailed information about limb configuration was not used in order to prevent limb position drift. In a related study, Zelaznick and Lantero (1996) showed that when subjects repetitively moved their hand in a continuous circular motion in the absence of visual feedback, the average limb position drifted while the shape of the hand path was maintained. While that study did not analyze inverse dynamics, one would expect that in order to maintain the shape of the hand path while the limb drifted would require modifications to the muscle activations in accord with drift in limb configuration.
Previous work (Brown et al., 2003a,b) has shown that limb position drifts when individuals make repetitive movements in the absence of visual feedback. The purpose of this study was to examine whether limb position drift might reflect a misalignment in visual and proprioceptive maps by examining the nature of information used to specify new movements from a drifted limb position. In a virtual reality (VR) environment, participants made continuous movements with their dominant right hand between two targets positioned 15 cm apart, paced by a 0.625-Hz metronome. After 5 cycles, cursor feedback of the hand was removed for the next 44 cycles, which induced an average drift in hand position of roughly 5 cm. On the 50th cycle, participants were required to move to one of 6 new targets from the drifted hand position. Kinematic analysis indicated that movement direction was unambiguously determined by the visual input marked by the original start position, or the last-seen hand position. Forward dynamics analysis revealed that current limb configuration was used to inform joint torques to produce this parallel direction. For new movement specification, accurate proprioceptive information about the drifted limb position was used, even though it was apparently not available for detecting drift in the first place. Movement distance varied directly with the extent of limb drift, although the differentiation of visual and proprioceptive control of distance could not be analyzed, as our control conditions were not significantly different for this measure. We suggest that movement drift, in the absence of visual feedback during cyclic repetitive movements, reflects a misalignment between largely accurate visual and proprioceptive maps, rather than a weighted fusion of the two modalities.
Bimanual coordination with three hands: Is the mirror hand of any help?
2014, Neuropsychologia
The mirror paradigm has been used extensively both as a research tool for studying kinesthesia in healthy individuals and as a therapeutic tool for improving recovery and/or alleviating symptoms in patients. The present study of healthy participants assessed the contribution of the mirror paradigm to motor control in a bimanual coordination task performed under sensorimotor disturbance conditions. In Experiment 1, the participants were required to produce symmetrical circles with both hands/arms at the same time. In Experiment 2, the task consisted of synchronous extension-flexion movements of both arms in the sagittal plane. These tasks were performed under four different visual conditions: (i) mirror vision (i.e. with the non-dominant arm reflected in a mirror – the third hand – and the dominant arm hidden), (ii) full vision (i.e. both arms visible), (iii) with only the non-dominant arm visible and (iv) with the eyes closed. In Experiments 1 and 2, sensorimotor disturbance was applied to the participant's dominant arm by co-vibrating antagonistic muscles (the biceps and the triceps). In the complex circle drawing task, bimanual performance was better in the mirror condition than when participants saw their non-dominant arm only. However, motor performance in the mirror vision condition was little better than in the eyes closed condition, regardless of whether or not sensorimotor disturbance was applied. In Experiment 2, there were no differences between the “eyes closed” and “mirror vision” conditions. Although mirror reflection of one arm has been shown to induce consistent, vivid, perceptual illusions (kinesthetic illusion), our results suggest that it is less effective in modulating motor behavior.
Manual disfluency in drawing while producing and listening to disfluent speech
2013, Human Movement Science
Citation Excerpt :
That is, they were able to perform the task without looking at the digitizer tablet. Research has shown that the absence of visual feedback during the drawing of circles does not affect the timing or shape of the circle (Zelaznik & Lantero, 1996). Furthermore, participants did not receive any instructions pertaining to the size, speed, or the amount of pen pressure to exert while drawing the circles.
This study investigated the extent to which manual fluency was associated with speech fluency in fluent speakers engaged in dual motor tasks. Thirteen right-handed adult females repeatedly drew circles with a pen on a digitizer tablet under five conditions: (1) a baseline (without reading or listening to speech), (2) reading fluently, (3) reading disfluently, (4) listening to fluent speech, and (5) listening to disfluent speech. The primary measure of disfluency was normalized mean squared jerk (NJ) in the pen strokes. Pen stroke time (ST) and pressure (PP) were also measured. NJ of the circle movements was significantly increased in both the disfluent reading and the disfluent listening conditions (p < 0.05), compared to the baseline condition. In the fluent listening and reading conditions, NJ in circle drawing was unaltered compared to the baseline condition. Relative to baseline, ST increased significantly (p < 0.05), but to a similar extent in all experimental conditions. Significantly (p < .05) greater pen pressure were also found in the disfluent versus fluent conditions. Positive correlations (r = 0.33–0.63) were found between NJ and ST across conditions. These findings demonstrate that in dual-tasks, speech fluency can influence manual fluency. This is consistent with the corpus of data showing neural connectivity between manual and speech tasks, as well between perception and production. The mirror neuron system is implicated as a mechanism involved in forging these links.
Synchronization in repetitive smooth movement requires perceptible events
2011, Acta Psychologica
Citation Excerpt :
In circle drawing, the printed timing target (usually placed at the 12 o'clock position) provides only a visual indication of when a cycle ends, but no haptic or auditory event-related feedback at the timing target. Zelaznik and Lantero (1996) showed that removal of visual feedback did not change timing accuracy in circle drawing, indicating that visual information may not be as useful for timing as auditor or tactile information. Furthermore, there are no abrupt kinematic changes at the location of the timing target for circle drawing (and thus no event) at the timing target.
Accurate timing performance during auditory–motor synchronization has been well documented for finger tapping tasks. It is believed that information pertaining to an event in movement production aids in detecting and correcting for errors between movement cycle completion and the metronome tone. Tasks with minimal event-related information exhibit more variable synchronization and less rapid error correction. Recent work from our laboratory has indicated that a task purportedly lacking an event structure (circle drawing) did not exhibit accurate synchronization or error correction (Studenka & Zelaznik, in press). In the present paper we report on two experiments examining synchronization in tapping and circle drawing tasks. In Experiment 1, error correction processes of an event-timed tapping timing task and an emergently timed circle drawing timing task were examined. Rapid and complete error correction was seen for the tapping, but not for the circle drawing task. In Experiment 2, a perceptual event was added to delineate a cycle in circle drawing, and the perceptual event of table contact was removed from the tapping task. The inclusion of an event produced a marked improvement in synchronization error correction for circle drawing, and the removal of tactile feedback (taking away an event) slightly reduced the error correction response of tapping. Furthermore, the task kinematics of circle drawing remained smooth providing evidence that event structure can be kinematic or perceptual in nature. Thus, synchronization and error correction, characteristic of event timing (Ivry, Spencer, Zelaznik, & Diedrichsen, 2002; Repp, 2005), depends upon the presence of a distinguishable source of sensory information at the timing goal.
Differential levels of speech and manual dysfluency in adults who stutter during simultaneous drawing and speaking tasks
2009, Human Movement Science
Citation Excerpt :
Participants were asked to draw the continuous circles at a comfortable size and speed. Zelaznik and Lantero (1996) showed that when drawing circles, removal of vision did not affect timing or shape of the circle. As such, the drawing was highly automated and could be done without the participants looking at the digitizer tablet while they concentrated on reading the text.
We examined the disruptive effects of stuttering on manual performance during simultaneous speaking and drawing tasks. Fifteen stuttering and fifteen non-stuttering participants drew continuous circles with a pen on a digitizer tablet under three conditions: silent (i.e., neither reading nor speaking), reading aloud, and choral reading (i.e., reading aloud in unison with another reader). We counted the frequency of stuttering events in the speaking tasks and measured pen stroke duration and pen stroke dysfluency (normalized jerk) in all three tasks. The control group was stutter-free and did not increase manual dysfluency in any condition. In the silent condition, the stuttering group performed pen movements without evidence of dysfluency, similar to the control group. However, in the reading aloud condition, the stuttering group stuttered on 12% of the syllables and showed increased manual dysfluency. In the choral reading condition stuttering was virtually eliminated (reduced by 97%), but manual dysfluency was reduced by only 47% relative to the reading aloud condition. Trials where more stuttered events were generally positively correlated with higher manual dysfluency. The results are consistent with a model in which episodes of stuttering and motor dysfluency are related to neural interconnectivity between manual and speech processes.

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The role of vision in repetitive circle drawing

Abstract

Acta Psychologica

Acta Psychologica

Acta Psychologica

A visual representation and the control of manual aiming movements

Journal of Motor Behavior

Evidence of common timing processes in the control of manual, orofacial and speech movements

Journal of Motor Behavior

The movement speed-accuracy relationship in space-time

The neural and behavioral organization of goal-directed movements

Modular analysis of timing in motor skill

Force control and its relation to timing

Journal of Motor Behavior