Scheduled for Motor Behavior and Measurement Posters, Friday, April 2, 2004, 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM, Convention Center: Exhibit Hall Poster Session


Motor Programming Costs for Executing Repeated Element Sequences

C. E. Magnuson and D. L. Wright, Texas A&M University-College Station, College Station, TX

Klapp’s (1995) two-process model of motor programming included one process, labeled INT that is responsible for organizing the internal features (e.g., timing or duration) of the individual elements or chunks contained in each movement. A second process, called SEQ, is involved in sequencing each of the individual response elements into the correct order for output. The goal of the present study was to further examine the nature of the INT and SEQ processes in Klapp’s model. Participants (N=12) practiced four different morse code type tasks which differed with respect to the duration of a key press (short or long) and the number of key presses (one or four) in a study time paradigm. The results supported Klapp’s INT process. Study time (cost associated with the INT process) were found to be dependent on the duration of the responses. That is study time was faster for the short duration, as opposed to the long duration tasks. Further, The multiple element tasks showed greater study time than the single element tasks. However, the results on reaction time (cost associated with the SEQ process) were not entirely consistent with Klapp’s model. The four element tasks did not show equal costs on the SEQ process. Sequencing out four long durations tasks required greater demands than sequencing four short duration tasks. Consistent with the current model, there were no differing reaction time costs for the single element tasks. These results suggest that for tasks involving elements that provide sufficient time to engage in distributed or online processing activities after the imperative stimulus do not require that the entire movement is sequenced out prior to initiation. These results provide the foundation for an altering description of the role of the SEQ process in executing a movement.
Keyword(s): performance

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