title: Motor IOR revealed for reaching.
abstract: Inhibition of return (IOR) is a spatial phenomenon that is thought to promote visual search functions by biasing attention and eye movements toward novel locations. Considerable research suggests distinct sensory and motor flavors of IOR, but it is not clear whether the motor type can affect responses other than eye movements. Most studies claiming to reveal motor IOR in the reaching control system have been confounded by their use of peripheral signals, which can invoke sensory rather than motor-based inhibitory effects. Other studies have used central signals to focus on motor, rather than sensory, effects in arm movements but have failed to observe IOR and have concluded that the motor form of IOR is restricted to the oculomotor system. Here, we show the first clear evidence that motor IOR can be observed for reaching movements when participants respond to consecutive central stimuli. This observation suggests that motor IOR serves a more general function than the facilitation of visual search, perhaps reducing the likelihood of engaging in repetitive behavior.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Dalhousie University, 1355 Oxford St., Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, B3H 4J1.
authors.forename: C D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Cowper-Smith
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Westwood
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D003463:Cues; D005133:Eye Movements / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D011931:Reactive Inhibition; D014110:Touch / Q000502:physiology; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult