title: The structure of motor programming: evidence from reaction times and lateralized readiness potentials.
abstract: There is a widely accepted notion that movement elements are assembled prior to movement execution in a central motor programming stage. However, it is not clear how this stage is structured-whether it is a unitary stage allowing different motor parameters to cross talk or whether there are several independent processes dealing with each motor parameter. We addressed this question by orthogonally manipulating two movement-related factors: response sequence complexity and movement duration. Both factors yielded main effects on reaction time but no interaction. Additive effects of both factors on the onsets of response- but not stimulus-synchronized lateralized readiness potentials suggest separable motoric loci of sequence complexity and duration. These findings are at variance with the notion of a unitary movement programming stage.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Sport Sciences, Waseda University, Saitama, Japan; Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Lu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Werner
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Sommer
authors.forename: Hiroaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Masaki
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003265:Contingent Negative Variation / Q000502:physiology*; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Finger tapping; Kinematic parameter; Lateralized readiness potential; Mental chronometry; Movement preparation