Execution-time updating of motor program for rapid serial output.
Motor program updating was studied by asking 2 subjects to modify the accent pattern of rapid finger-tapping sequences during execution. The tap to be accentuated was changed unpredictably in one-third of the trials; on these trials the signal indicating the new accent position was delivered upon the onset of the first tap. The probability of placing the new accent correctly increased when the tap to be accentuated was shifted towards the end of the sequence. The probability of cancelling the initially prepared accent showed a similar pattern. Successful updating of the accent pattern could be achieved without any mistiming of the successive taps. These findings are taken to indicate the existence of a temporal overlap between the execution of the initial part of the sequence and the programming of the later part.
Semjen
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Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Marseille.
D005385:Fingers; D006801:Humans; D009048:Motor Skills; D009068:Movement; D010507:Periodicity; D013997:Time Factors