QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

HOME  |   SEARCH  |   ARCHIVE  |   SUBSCRIBE  |   CONTACT  |   HELP

The Journal of Neuroscience, June 27, 2007, 27(26):6984-6994; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1309-07.2007

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Submit an eLetter Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Battaglia, P. W. Articles by Schrater, P. R. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Battaglia, P. W. Articles by Schrater, P. R.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Behavioral/Systems/Cognitive
Humans Trade Off Viewing Time and Movement Duration to Improve Visuomotor Accuracy in a Fast Reaching Task

Peter W. Battaglia¹ and Paul R. Schrater^1,2

Departments of ¹Psychology and ²Computer Science, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455

Correspondence should be addressed to Peter W. Battaglia, Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, Elliott Hall, 75 East River Road, Minneapolis, MN 55455. Email: batt0086{at}umn.edu

Previous research has shown that the brain uses statistical knowledge of both sensory and motor accuracy to optimize behavioral performance. Here, we present the results of a novel experiment in which participants could control both of these quantities at once. Specifically, maximum performance demanded the simultaneous choices of viewing and movement durations, which directly impacted visual and motor accuracy. Participants reached to a target indicated imprecisely by a two-dimensional distribution of dots within a 1200 ms time limit. By choosing when to reach, participants selected the quality of visual information regarding target location as well as the remaining time available to execute the reach. New dots, and consequently more visual information, appeared until the reach was initiated; after reach initiation, no new dots appeared. However, speed accuracy trade-offs in motor control make early reaches (much remaining time) precise and late reaches (little remaining time) imprecise. Based on each participant's visual- and motor-only target-hitting performances, we computed an "ideal reacher" that selects reach initiation times that minimize predicted reach endpoint deviations from the true target location. The participant's timing choices were qualitatively consistent with ideal predictions: choices varied with stimulus changes (but less than the predicted magnitude) and resulted in near-optimal performance despite the absence of direct feedback defining ideal performance. Our results suggest visual estimates, and their respective accuracies are passed to motor planning systems, which in turn predict the precision of potential reaches and control viewing and movement timing to favorably trade off visual and motor accuracy.

Key words: vision; motor control; decision; optimality; visuomotor variability; timing

---

Received Dec. 20, 2006; revised May 7, 2007; accepted May 8, 2007.

Correspondence should be addressed to Peter W. Battaglia, Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, Elliott Hall, 75 East River Road, Minneapolis, MN 55455. Email: batt0086{at}umn.edu

Home  |   Search  |   Archive  |   Subscribe  |   Contact  |   Help