Misperceiving the speed-accuracy tradeoff: imagined movements and perceptual decisions.
Research has suggested that prospective motor decisions are consistent with actual motor action. In a study that we recently published (Young et al. in Exp Brain Res 185:681-688, 2008), however, participants demonstrated a preference for closer targets that was inconsistent with the predictions of Fitts's law. With a pair of experiments, the present paper investigates the underlying basis of this non-optimal behaviour. Participants showed a similar deviation from Fitts's law when imagining movements--believing that movement duration increased with distance within the same index of difficulty. Participants did not behave similarly, however, in a perceptual version of the decision task. These results suggest that imagined movements and motor decisions are linked, as well as demonstrating one situation in which both show a similar deviation from the patterns of actual movement duration.
Young
Scott J
SJ
Bloorview Research Institute, 150 Kilgour Road, Toronto, ON, M4G 1R8, Canada. scottj.young@utoronto.ca
Pratt
Jay
J
Chau
Tom
T
D000328:Adult; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology*; D005121:Extremities / Q000294:innervation / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination / Q000502:physiology*; D007600:Judgment / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009048:Motor Skills / Q000502:physiology; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D013997:Time Factors; D013998:Time Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult