Action-effect related motor adaptation in interactions with everyday devices

Abstract

Human action planning relies on integrated representations of motor acts and the associated consequences, which implies that changing the set of effects associated to a motor act might directly influence action planning and control. The present study investigated the hypothesis that action-effect manipulations also affected the motor components of the actions even when only a single action option was available. Participants performed simple everyday actions (pinched a plastic sheet, pressed a button, tapped on a table) in two conditions. In the motor-auditory condition actions resulted in the presentation of a tone, whereas no tones were presented in the motor condition. The applied force was softer in the motor-auditory than in the motor condition for all three types of actions. The temporal characteristics of force application showed that action-effect related motor adaptation occurred during action planning, but possibly also during action execution. This demonstrates that even in simple, well-defined interactions with everyday devices we take all (even seemingly task-irrelevant) action-effects into account during action planning, which affects the motor component of the action. The results also imply that in experiments manipulating contingent action effects, one cannot rely on the assumption that the motor part of the action is invariant between conditions.

Temporal constraints in the use of auditory action effects for motor optimization.

“…(Release might be also initiated if tactile stimulation reaches a certain level, even if auditory effects are not elicited, which could explain how releasing the device is induced in the motor condition.) However, based on previous studies (Horváth, Bíró, & Neszmélyi, 2018) and additional analyses of the current results (see online supplementary material) it seems likely that the tone eliciting movements used in the current study can be indeed regarded as ballistic and action-effect-related motor adaptation is mainly determined by offline mechanisms of action planning. Thus, in the following, we focus on explanations that are related to such offline processes, and the potential contribution of online control is discussed in the online supplementary material.…”

“…It is important to note that the task in Experiment 3 (constant interval production) differed from those in Experiment 1 and 2 (random interval production). Action-effect-related motor adaptation has been observed previously with both of these tasks (Horváth et al, 2018; Neszmélyi & Horváth, 2017), but we are unaware of any studies investigating potential task-related differences. Currently no results indicate that tendencies observed in any of the three experiments would be specific to the respective task.…”

Multisensory action effects facilitate the performance of motor sequences

“…The present design does not rule out potential alternative explanations, however, so that several theoretical possibilities might also account for the benefits from action effects with more features: First, several studies have demonstrated that when actions (e.g., pinches, button presses, tapping on a table) elicit a more reliable, higher quality feedback, action control is more effective (Neszmélyi & Horváth, 2017, 2018. In our study, the action effects in the audiovisual group might provide more reliable feedback than in other groups, allowing for more efficient motor control (Horváth, Bíró, & Neszmélyi, 2018). Thus, participants in the audiovisual group might be more confident in the success of the actions and can execute not only the subsequent actions within the motor sequence but also all subsequent sequences at a higher speed.…”

Flexible weighting of body-related effects in action production

“…Kunde et al (2004) suggested that a similar compensatory averaging process affects the force exerted during action execution: if an agent aims at producing a constant mean intensity, a quiet tone effect calls for a higher intensity of action (i.e., higher peak force [PF]) as a loud tone effect (i.e., lower PF). 1 In a similar vein, Horváth et al (2018) found that the PF produced during tapping was attenuated by the presence of an auditory effect compared with situations without additional effects.…”