title: Motor activity improves temporal expectancy.
abstract: Certain brain areas involved in interval timing are also important in motor activity. This raises the possibility that motor activity might influence interval timing. To test this hypothesis, we assessed interval timing in healthy adults following different types of training. The pre- and post-training tasks consisted of a button press in response to the presentation of a rhythmic visual stimulus. Alterations in temporal expectancy were evaluated by measuring response times. Training consisted of responding to the visual presentation of regularly appearing stimuli by either: (1) pointing with a whole-body movement, (2) pointing only with the arm, (3) imagining pointing with a whole-body movement, (4) simply watching the stimulus presentation, (5) pointing with a whole-body movement in response to a target that appeared at irregular intervals (6) reading a newspaper. Participants performing a motor activity in response to the regular target showed significant improvements in judgment times compared to individuals with no associated motor activity. Individuals who only imagined pointing with a whole-body movement also showed significant improvements. No improvements were observed in the group that trained with a motor response to an irregular stimulus, hence eliminating the explanation that the improved temporal expectations of the other motor training groups was purely due to an improved motor capacity to press the response button. All groups performed a secondary task equally well, hence indicating that our results could not simply be attributed to differences in attention between the groups. Our results show that motor activity, even when it does not play a causal or corrective role, can lead to improved interval timing judgments.
authors: Unité de Formation et de Recherche en Sciences et Techniques des Activités Physiques et Sportives, EA2931 Centre de Recherches sur le Sport et le Mouvement, Université Paris Ouest, Nanterre La Défense, France.
authors: Lilian
authors: L
authors: Fautrelle
authors: Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck University of London, London, United Kingdom.
authors: Denis
authors: D
authors: Mareschal
authors: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UMR 5022, Laboratoire d'Etude de l'Apprentissage et du Développement, Dijon, France.
authors: Robert
authors: R
authors: French
authors: Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck University of London, London, United Kingdom.
authors: Caspar
authors: C
authors: Addyman
authors: Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Unité 1093, Cognition, Action et Plasticité Sensori-Motrice, Université de Bourgogne, Dijon, Campus Universitaire, Unité de Formation et de Recherche en Sciences et Techniques des Activités Physiques et Sportives, Dijon, France.
authors: Elizabeth
authors: E
authors: Thomas
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult