The interaction between practice and performance pressure on the planning and control of fast target directed movement

Abstract

Pressure to perform often results in decrements to both outcome accuracy and the kinematics of motor skills. Furthermore, this pressure–performance relationship is moderated by the amount of accumulated practice or the experience of the performer. However, the interactive effects of performance pressure and practice on the underlying processes of motor skills are far from clear. Movement execution involves both an offline pre-planning process and an online control process. The present experiment aimed to investigate the interaction between pressure and practice on these two motor control processes. Two groups of participants (control and pressure; N = 12 and 12, respectively) practiced a video aiming amplitude task and were transferred to either a non-pressure (control group) or a pressure condition (pressure group) both early and late in practice. Results revealed similar accuracy and movement kinematics between the control and pressure groups at early transfer. However, at late transfer, the introduction of pressure was associated with increased performance compared to control conditions. Analysis of kinematic variability throughout the movement suggested that the performance increase was due to participants adopting strategies to improve movement planning in response to pressure reducing the effectiveness of the online control system.

Examining the effect of state anxiety on compensatory and strategic adjustments in the planning of goal-directed aiming

“…More specifically, we aim to re-examine the indices that are traditionally adopted to indicate planning and control (i.e., spatio-temporal dynamics of peak acceleration, peak velocity, peak deceleration and movement end). As per previous findings (Allsop et al, 2016;Lawrence et al, 2013), it is predicted that there will be an increase in variability at the end of the movement, which will be partially offset by a decrease earlier in the movement (peak acceleration/peak velocity/peak deceleration) for the high compared to low anxiety condition. The subsequent analyses therein may be leveraged to elucidate the precise source of these pre-planned modifications.…”

“…Because the prior knowledge of sensory feedback for upcoming trials can lead to a strategic shift in the proportional time dedicated to online control (see Hansen et al, 2006), we also calculated the proportion of time to peak velocity. Additionally, based on the notion that reverses in variability following increasing amplitude indicate an intervening control process (Khan et al, 2006), and in keeping with previous studies (Allsop et al, 2016;Lawrence et al, 2013), we assessed the within-participant standard deviation of the displacement for each of the kinematic landmarks.…”

“…However, a follow-up study (Allsop et al, 2016) showed that while there was a similarly negative impact of high state anxiety in online control, there was also an impact observed within the early planning phase of the movement. Namely, there was lower spatial variability at peak acceleration, peak velocity and peak deceleration in the high compared to low anxiety condition.…”

“…Recently, researchers have tried to understand more about anxiety and its related processes by exploring the specific effects it has on the planning and subsequent control of action (e.g., Allsop, Lawrence, Gray, & Khan, 2016;Causer, Holmes, Smith, & Williams, 2011;Coombes, Higgins, Gamble, Cauraugh, & Janelle, 2009;Lawrence, Khan & Hardy, 2013;Vine, Lee, Moore & Wilson, 2013). Most notably, Lawrence et al (2013) posited an experimental design that directly examined distraction and self-focus theories by formulating opposing hypothetical outcomes within a single goal-directed movement.…”

“…However, a feasible alternative may be offered by Allsop et al (2016) who indicated that performers may contest the negative effects in online control by inversely limiting the need 5 to amend the limb following an initial restriction to the spatial variability. In a similar vein, Cassell and colleagues (Cassell, Beattie, & Lawrence, 2017) found that the prolonged movement times from practice with anxiety to transfer with no anxiety (control) failed to unfold in the reverse context (i.e., no anxiety-practice to anxiety-transfer).…”