The Effect of Practice on the Control of Rapid Aiming Movements: Evidence for an Interdependency between Programming and Feedback Processing

The purpose of this experiment was to investigate how the control of aiming movements performed as fast and as accurately as possible changes with practice. We examined: (1) the influence of visual feedback on the initial impulse and error correction phases of aiming movements during acquisition; and (2) the effect of removing visual feedback at different levels of practice. Results from the acquisition trials indicated that vision had a major impact on the organization of the initial impulse and error correction phases. Also, consistent with findings from research involving temporally constrained movements, the cost of removing vision was greater after extensive levels than after moderate levels of practice. Collectively, these results denote the importance of visual feedback to the learning of this particular class of aiming movements. Learning appears to be a dual process of improved programming of the initial impulse and increased efficiency of feedback processing. Practice not only acts on programming and feedback processes directly, but also indirectly through a reciprocal interplay between these two processes.

[1]  Robert Sessions Woodworth,et al.  THE ACCURACY OF VOLUNTARY MOVEMENT , 1899 .

[2]  P. Fitts The information capacity of the human motor system in controlling the amplitude of movement. , 1954, Journal of experimental psychology.

[3]  M. Posner,et al.  Processing of visual feedback in rapid movements. , 1968, Journal of experimental psychology.

[4]  F. M. Henry Absolute Error vs "E" in Target Accuracy. , 1975, Journal of motor behavior.

[5]  Daniel Gopher,et al.  The Effects of Visual and Proprioceptive Feedback on Motor Learning , 1975 .

[6]  H. Zelaznik,et al.  Motor-output variability: a theory for the accuracy of rapid motor acts. , 1979, Psychological review.

[7]  L. Carlton Processing visual feedback information for movement control. , 1981, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[8]  D. Meyer,et al.  Models for the speed and accuracy of aimed movements. , 1982, Psychological review.

[9]  D. Meyer,et al.  Conditions for a Linear Speed-Accuracy Trade-Off in Aimed Movements , 1983, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology. A, Human experimental psychology.

[10]  E. R. Crossman,et al.  Feedback Control of Hand-Movement and Fitts' Law , 1983, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology. A, Human experimental psychology.

[11]  R. Marteniuk,et al.  Kinematic and electromyographic changes that occur as a function of learning a time-constrained aiming task. , 1986, Journal of motor behavior.

[12]  Laurette Hay,et al.  Contribution of visual information to feedforward and feedback processes in rapid pointing movements , 1986 .

[13]  C. Dugas,et al.  On the type of information used to control and learn an aiming movement after moderate and extensive training , 1987 .

[14]  R A Abrams,et al.  Optimality in human motor performance: ideal control of rapid aimed movements. , 1988, Psychological review.

[15]  G. Gottlieb,et al.  Strategies for the control of voluntary movements with one mechanical degree of freedom , 1989, Behavioral and Brain Sciences.

[16]  R. Bootsma,et al.  Timing an attacking forehand drive in table tennis. , 1990 .

[17]  L Proteau,et al.  Vision of the Stylus in a Manual Aiming Task: The Effects of Practice , 1990, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology. A, Human experimental psychology.

[18]  D. Meyer,et al.  Eye-hand coordination: oculomotor control in rapid aimed limb movements. , 1990, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[19]  Les G. Carlton,et al.  Chapter 1 Visual Processing Time and the Control of Movement , 1992 .

[20]  R A Abrams,et al.  Rapid aimed limb movements: differential effects of practice on component submovements. , 1993, Journal of motor behavior.

[21]  D. Elliott,et al.  Visual regulation of manual aiming , 1993 .

[22]  Luc Proteau,et al.  Static visual information and the learning and control of a manual aiming movement , 1993 .

[23]  L G Carlton,et al.  The effects of temporal-precision and time-minimization constraints on the spatial and temporal accuracy of aimed hand movements. , 1994, Journal of motor behavior.

[24]  D Elliott,et al.  Optimizing the use of Vision in Manual Aiming: The Role of Practice , 1995, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology. A, Human experimental psychology.

[25]  J. Pratt,et al.  Practice and Component Submovements: The Roles of Programming and Feedback in Rapid Aimed Limb Movements. , 1996, Journal of motor behavior.

[26]  L Proteau,et al.  Visual Perception Modifies Goal-directed Movement Control: Supporting Evidence from a Visual Perturbation Paradigm , 1997, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology. A, Human experimental psychology.

[27]  James L. Lyons,et al.  The utilization of visual information in the control of rapid sequential aiming movements. , 1999, Acta psychologica.

[28]  S. Jaric,et al.  Practice improves even the simplest movements , 1988, Experimental Brain Research.

[29]  I. Franks,et al.  The effects of changing movement velocity and complexity on response preparation: evidence from latency, kinematic, and EMG measures , 2004, Experimental Brain Research.

[30]  David E. Meyer,et al.  Speed—Accuracy Tradeoffs in Aimed Movements: Toward a Theory of Rapid Voluntary Action , 2018, Attention and Performance XIII.