Quickly 'learning' to Move Optimally

Overview

Journal Exp Brain Res

Specialty Neurology

Date 2011 Jul 13

PMID 21748334

Citations 13

Authors

Eli Brenner

Jeroen B J Smeets

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

People take account of the variability in their movements in a near-optimal manner in various visuo-motor tasks. Is knowledge of one's variability needed for such near-optimal performance, or could it arise from responding to one's success in previous attempts in some simple manner? We asked subjects to move a pen back and forth across a tablet to make a cursor move as quickly as possible between two targets. The cursor had to stop within the targets. Task difficulty was varied between blocks. Part of the variation in difficulty was explicit (three target sizes) whereas the rest had to be discovered during the movements (two mappings between the movements of pen and cursor). In all cases, subjects sped up after stopping within a target and slowed down after failing to do so. We interpret this as evidence that explicit knowledge of one's variability is not necessary for performing close to optimally.

Citing Articles

How the timing of visual feedback influences goal-directed arm movements: delays and presentation rates.

Brenner E, van Straaten C, de Vries A, Baas T, Broring K, Smeets J Exp Brain Res. 2023; 241(5):1447-1457.

PMID: 37067561 PMC: 10129945. DOI: 10.1007/s00221-023-06617-6.

Tapping on a target: dealing with uncertainty about its position and motion.

Brenner E, de la Malla C, Smeets J Exp Brain Res. 2022; 241(1):81-104.

PMID: 36371477 PMC: 9870842. DOI: 10.1007/s00221-022-06503-7.

Having several options does not increase the time it takes to make a movement to an adequate end point.

Brenner E, Smeets J Exp Brain Res. 2022; 240(6):1849-1871.

PMID: 35551429 PMC: 9142465. DOI: 10.1007/s00221-022-06376-w.

The influences of target size and recent experience on the vigour of adjustments to ongoing movements.

Brenner E, Hardon H, Moesman R, Crowe E, Smeets J Exp Brain Res. 2022; 240(4):1219-1229.

PMID: 35182186 PMC: 9016032. DOI: 10.1007/s00221-022-06325-7.

Competition Rather Than Observation and Cooperation Facilitates Optimal Motor Planning.

Tanae M, Ota K, Takiyama K Front Sports Act Living. 2021; 3:637225.

PMID: 33733236 PMC: 7959757. DOI: 10.3389/fspor.2021.637225.

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