Foreperiod duration and the analysis of motor stages in a line-drawing task.

This study examines the effects of foreperiod duration and three motor variables on latencies and movement velocities of a line-drawing task. The motor side of the reaction process leading up to precise drawing movements was assumed to entail three stages, labelled motor programming, parameterization and initiation. In the present study we investigated the relationship between key variables to these motor stages and foreperiod duration. The results showed that number of elements, movement size and movement direction had independent contributions to choice reaction times of the line-drawing task. This finding is in accordance with our stage model. Foreperiod duration showed a significant interaction with movement size and additive effects with number of elements and movement direction. It may be concluded that the effect of foreperiod duration on the motor stages of choice reaction time may be regarded as a bypassing effect causing non-muscle specific variation of the level of motor activation as proposed by Sanders (1983).

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