The effects of switching between targets on the performance of a simple motor skill.
Little direct evidence has emerged regarding the influence of switching between tasks on the performance of skills studied in the motor domain. The present study reported the results of two experiments that examined the effects of task switching on a simple object projection task, which presumably emphasized processes related to response planning and execution. The experimental task required participants to gently tap a knob to make it travel along two parallel rods until it reached a specified target distance. In both experiments, participants in the repeated conditions performed a single target distance while participants in the switched conditions alternated between two target distances. Results indicated that switching between targets degraded accuracy for the two short targets (30cm, Exp. 1; 20cm, Exp. 2). Results were consistent with the preservation of parameter values [Rosenbaum, D. A., Weber, R. J., Hazelett, W. M., & Hindorff, V. (1986). The parameter remapping effect in human performance. Evidence form tongue twisters and finger fumblers. Journal of Memory and Language, 25, 710-725; Sherwood, D. E. (2007). Separate movement planning and spatial assimilation effects in sequential bimanual aiming movements. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 105, 501-513] and suggested an additional role for persisting activation in accounting for spatial assimilation and magnitude effects.
Department of Exercise, Sport, and Leisure Studies, University of Tennessee, 1914 Andy Holt Avenue, 322 HPER, Knoxville, TN 37996-2700, USA. jfairbr1@utk.edu
Jeffrey T
JT
Fairbrother
Sebastian
S
Brueckner
Joao Augusto de Camargo
JA
Barros
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D006801:Humans; D009048:Motor Skills; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception; D055815:Young Adult