Information Rate in Humans during Visuomotor Tracking

Lam, Sze-Ying; Zénon, Alexandre

doi:10.3390/e23020228

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Therefore, participants had to use a continuous sensory feedback to adapt to the statistical fluctuations we imposed for each trial (Clark, 2016;Körding & Wolpert, 2004;Piray & Daw, 2020). The responses we characterized in our task could not be observed by chance, and AR and v T influenced successful attacks and escapes (Coudiere et al, 2022;Domenici et al, 2011;Hocherman & Levy, 2000;Lam & Zenon, 2021). Higher AR and v T values in chasing trials increased uncertainty in the escaping path, making it more challenging for users to reach the target.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Directional uncertainty in chase and escape dynamics.

Treviño,

Medina-Coss y León,

Támez

et al. 2024

Journal of Experimental Psychology: General

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Intercepting and avoiding collisions with moving targets are crucial skills for survival. However, little is known about how these behaviors are implemented when the trajectory of the moving target introduces variability and ambiguity into the perceptual-motor system. We developed a simple visuomotor task in which participants used a joystick to interact with a computer-controlled dot that moved along two-dimensional trajectories. This virtual system allowed us to define the role of the moving object (predator or prey) and adjust its speed and directional uncertainty (i.e., magnitude and frequency of random directional changes) during chase and escape trials. These factors had a significant impact on participants' performance in both chasing and escaping trials. We developed a simple geometrical model of potential chaser/escaper interactions to distinguish pursuit from interception chasing trajectories. We found that participants initially pursued the target but switched to a late interception strategy. The amount of late interception strategy followed an inverted U-shaped curve with the highest values at intermediate speeds. We tested the applicability of our task and methods in children who showed a robust developmental improvement in task performance and late interception strategy. Our task constitutes a flexible system in a virtual space for studying chasing and escaping behavior in adults and children. Our analytical methods allow detecting subtle changes in interception strategies, a valuable tool for studying the maturation of predictive and prospective systems, with a high potential to contribute to cognitive and developmental research. Public Significance StatementWe developed a computer-based visuomotor task to investigate how people chase and escape from moving targets under different conditions. Lower target speeds improved chasing and escaping abilities, while higher directional uncertainty compromised chasing but improved escaping. This research enhances our understanding of how humans adapt their behavior to intercept or avoid moving objects. Our approach has cognitive and developmental research applications, as children showed developmental improvements in task performance and strategy utilization. For example, clinicians could use a similar methodology to assess visuomotor performance and identify individual impairments. It has the potential to differentiate between neurotypical and neurodivergent adults and identify developmental disabilities in children, aiding in diagnostic tools and interventions for visuomotor difficulties. By capturing these behaviors' complexity and dependence on speed and uncertainty, our research contributes to our understanding of visuomotor coordination in children and adults.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Directional uncertainty in chase and escape dynamics.

Treviño,

Medina-Coss y León,

Támez

et al. 2024

Journal of Experimental Psychology: General

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“…To further investigate the critical role of feedback and feedforward processes in our asymmetrical transfer, we subsequently tested whether transfer from tracking to reaching would benefit from training with a fully predictable target motion, assuming that predictability should increase the contribution of feedforward processes [25,26] that might transfer to the reaching task. Unexpectedly, the results of that control study did not match with this hypothesis since transfer of adaptation from tracking to reaching remained scarce.…”

Section: Limited Transfer From Tracking To Reachingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We reason that, because fast reaching movements performed with a joystick are likely of shorter duration, they might offer a better proxy of feedforward processes. Furthermore, by using a target that follows a pseudo random motion, we reason that our pursuit tracking task becomes more suitable to monitor feedback processes [25,26]. As an aside we also test transfer of adaptation when tracking training is performed with a fully predictable motion thereby presumably emphasizing the feedforward component.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Asymmetrical transfer of adaptation between reaching and tracking: implications for feedforward and feedback processes

Coudière

Fernandez

Rugy

et al. 2022

Journal of Neurophysiology

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Reaching and manual tracking are two very common tasks for studying human sensorimotor processes. Although these motor tasks rely both on feedforward and feedback processes, emphasis is more on feedforward processes for reaching, and more on feedback processes for tracking. The extent to which feedforward and feedback processes are interrelated when being updated is not settled yet. Here, using reaching and tracking as proxies, we examined the bidirectional relationship between the update of feedforward and feedback processes. Forty right-handed participants were asked to move a joystick so as to either track a target moving rather unpredictably (pursuit tracking) or to make fast pointing movements toward a static target (center-out reaching task). Visuomotor adaptation was elicited by introducing a 45° rotation between the joystick motion and the cursor motion. Half of the participants adapted to rotation first via reaching movements, and then with pursuit tracking, while the other half performed both tasks in opposite order. Group comparisons revealed a strong asymmetrical transfer of adaptation between tasks. Namely, although nearly complete transfer of adaptation was observed from reaching to tracking, only modest transfer was found from tracking to reaching. A control experiment (N=10) revealed that making target motion fully predictable did not impact the latter finding. One possible interpretation is that the update of feedforward processes contributes directly to feedback processes, but the update of feedback processes engaged in tracking can be performed in isolation. These results suggest that reaching movements are supported by broader (i.e. more universal) mechanisms than tracking ones.

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“…First, the contribution of online visual feedback control (i.e. the ability to exploit ongoing visual information for updating hand motor command) is expected to increase for continuous tasks, especially when tracking a target that follows an unpredictable path (Coudiere et al, 2022;Lam & Zénon, 2021). Second, when visuomotor adaptation is required, the use of continuous tasks minimizes the implication of cognitive strategies as time pressure inherent to these tasks imposes fast deliberation to ongoing actions (Yang et al, 2021;Yoo et al, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Right-left hand asymmetry in manual tracking: when poorer control is associated with better adaptation and interlimb transfer

Coudière

Rugy

Danion

2023

Psychological Research

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To date, interlimb transfer following visuomotor adaptation has been mainly investigated through discrete reaching movements. Here we explored this issue in the context of continuous manual tracking, a task in which the contribution of online feedback mechanisms is crucial, and in which there is a well-established right (dominant) hand advantage under baseline conditions. We had two objectives 1) to determine whether this preexisting hand asymmetry would persist under visuomotor rotation, 2) to examine interlimb transfer by assessing whether prior experience with the rotation by one hand benefit to the other hand. To address these, 44 right-handed participants were asked to move a joystick and to track a visual target following a rather unpredictable trajectory. Visuomotor adaptation was elicited by introducing a 90° rotation between the joystick motion and the cursor motion. Half of the participants adapted to the rotation first with the right hand, and then with the left, while the other half performed the opposite protocol. As expected during baseline trials, the left hand was less accurate while also exhibiting more variable and exploratory behavior. However, participants exhibited a left hand advantage during first exposure to the rotation. Moreover, interlimb transfer was observed albeit more strongly from the left to the right hand. We suggest that the less effective and more variable/exploratory control strategy of the left hand promoted its adaptation, which incidentally favored transfer from left to right hand. Altogether, this study speaks for further attention to the dominant/non-dominant asymmetry during baseline before examining interlimb transfer of adaptation.

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Information Rate in Humans during Visuomotor Tracking

Cited by 4 publications

References 37 publications

Directional uncertainty in chase and escape dynamics.

Directional uncertainty in chase and escape dynamics.

Asymmetrical transfer of adaptation between reaching and tracking: implications for feedforward and feedback processes

Right-left hand asymmetry in manual tracking: when poorer control is associated with better adaptation and interlimb transfer

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