Individual Measures of Time Perception Predict Performance in a Timed Reaching Task

Abstract

In temporally-constrained reaching tasks, participants make rapid movements to a target while making their movements last a designated length of time. It has been well-established that effective target width, a measure of spatial accuracy, increases linearly with movement speed. This study sought to understand how individual differences in temporal sensitivity affect this speed-accuracy tradeoff. It was found that time sensitivity did not affect spatial components of the timed reaching task, but it was related to temporal components of the task. Ideas regarding the role of time perception in movement planning as well as differences in movement strategies for short and long target intervals are discussed.