Force reflections of auditory and tactile action-effect weighting in motor planning

Abstract

Most voluntary actions have only few goals, which provides considerable freedom in the selection of action parameters. Recent studies showed that task-irrelevant aspects of the task context influence the motor parameters of the actions in a way which seems to reflect the relative importance of these aspects within the underlying action representation. The present study investigated how the intensity of auditory action-effects affected force exertion patterns in a self-paced action production task. Participants applied force impulses with their index finger on a force-sensitive resistor every three seconds. In four separate conditions, force impulses elicited no sound, or elicited tones with 69, 59 or 49 dB intensity. The results showed that participants applied more force when tone intensity was lower, and when tones were absent. These force differences were also present in the first 60 ms following tone onset, implying that these reflected differences in motor planning. The results are compatible with the notion that actions are represented in terms of their sensory effects, which are weighted differently—presumably to maintain an optimal level of overall auditory and tactile stimulation in the present case. These results hint at the potential usefulness of motor parameters as readouts of action intentions.