Traditional measurement of multisensory facilitation in tasks such as speeded motor reaction tasks (MRT) consistently show age-related improvement during early childhood. However, the extent to which motor function increases with age and hence contribute to multisensory motor reaction times in young children has seldom been examined. Thus, we aimed to investigate the contribution of motor development to measures of multisensory (auditory, visual, and audiovisual) and visuomotor processing tasks in three young school age groups of children (n (...) = 69) aged (5−6, n = 21; 7−8, n = 25.; 9−10 n = 18 years). We also aimed to determine whether age-related sensory threshold times for purely visual inspection time (IT) tasks improved significantly with age. Bayesian results showed decisive evidence for age-group differences in multisensory MRT and visuo-motor processing tasks, though the evidence showed that threshold time for visual identification IT performance was only slower in the youngest age group children (5−6) compared to older groups. Bayesian correlations between performance on the multisensory MRT and visuo-motor processing tasks indicated moderate to decisive evidence in favor of the alternative hypothesis (BF10 = 4.71 to 91.346), though not with the threshold IT (BF10 < 1.35). This suggests that visual sensory system development in children older than 6 years makes a less significant contribution to the measure of multisensory facilitation, compared to motor development. In addition to this main finding, multisensory facilitation of MRT within race-model predictions was only found in the oldest group of children (9−10), supporting previous suggestions that multisensory integration is likely to continue into late childhood/early adolescence at least. (shrink)

This paper proposes and develops the feelings of goals hypothesis (FGH). It has two aims: first, to describe the evolutionary function of emotional feelings (EFs), and second, to describe the content and the format of EFs. According to FGH, the evolutionary function of EFs is to enable motoric flexibility. Specifically, EFs are a component of a psychological mechanism that permits differential motoric reactions to the same stimulus. Further, according to FGH, EF is a special type of mental representation with (...) the content of an action goal, and with a non-motoric, non-conceptual format. This paper thoroughly clarifies the assumptions underlying FGH and discusses its theoretical implications and empirical predictions. (shrink)

BackgroundMotor imagery training has a similar effect to that of physical training on motor performance. The objective of this study was to investigate the short-term effectiveness of motor imagery training on response inhibition using the stop signal task.MethodsParticipants were divided into a physical training group, a motor imagery training group, and a motor imagery combined with physical training group. All participants performed 10 SST training sessions over 5 days. Both stop signal reaction time and non-signal reaction (...) time were measured before and after SST training.ResultsThere were significant interaction and time effects, although the group effect was not statistically significant. Bonferroni post hoc analysis showed that MIPT group revealed a significantly greater change in SSRT than PT and MIT groups, while there was no significant difference between PT and MIT groups. SSRT significantly decreased after training in all groups. In NSRT, there was a significant effect of time, but there was no significant interaction effect or group effect.ConclusionResponse inhibition could be enhanced via training, and it was most effective when motor imagery and physical training were combined. We demonstrate that motor imagery training significantly improves response inhibition and should be accompanied by physical training when performing SST. (shrink)

PurposeGross motor skills and inhibitory control which are both development in preschool stage is significant for preschooler to healthy growth. However, the evidence of relationship between them in preschoolers are still insufficient, most of studies only focus on youth. Thus, the aim of this research is to examine the association between GMS and IC in preschool children.MethodsThis cross-sectional study used baseline data from a previous intervention study of preschoolers conducted in 2018. GMS were assessed by using the Test for (...) Gross Motor Development in preschoolers, which includes two subtests of locomotor and object control skills. Total GMS is calculated from the sum of these two subtests. The Fish Flanker task was used to evaluate both accuracy and reaction time of IC. Multivariate linear regression models were established to analyze the relationships between GMS and IC.ResultsA total of 123 preschool-age children were included in the final analysis. After adjusting for confounders, GMS, locomotor, and object control skills were all negatively related with reaction time of IC.ConclusionThere was a significant negative correlation between gross motor skills and the reaction time of inhibitory control in preschool children. Further research is needed to verify this finding in prospective and experimental studies. (shrink)

The development of action representation during adolescence was investigated using a visually guided pointing motor task to test motor imagery. Forty adolescents and 33 adults were instructed to both execute and imagine hand movements from a starting point to a target of varying size. Reaction time was measured for both Execution and Imagery conditions. There is typically a close association between time taken to execute and image actions in adults because action execution and action simulation rely on overlapping (...) neural circuitry. Further, representations of actions are governed by the same speed-accuracy trade-off as real actions, as expressed by Fitts’ Law. In the current study, performance on the VGPT in both adolescents and adults conformed to Fitts’ Law in E and I conditions. However, the strength of association between E and I significantly increased with age, reflecting a refinement in action representation between adolescence and adulthood. (shrink)

The Serial Reaction Time Task (SRTT) was designed to measure motor sequence learning and is widely used in many fields in cognitive science and neuroscience. However, the common performance measures derived from SRTT—reaction time (RT) difference scores—may not provide valid measures of sequence learning. This is because RT-difference scores may be subject to floor effects and otherwise not sufficiently reflective of learning. A ratio RT measure might minimize floor effects. Furthermore, measures derived from predictive accuracy may provide a better (...) assessment of sequence learning. Accordingly, we developed a Predictive Sequence Learning Task (PSLT) in which performance can be assessed via both RT and predictive accuracy. We compared performance of N = 99 adults on SRTT and PSLT in a within-subjects design and also measured fluid abilities. The RT-difference scores on both tasks were generally not related to fluid abilities, replicating previous findings. In contrast, a ratio RT measure on SRTT and PSLT and accuracy measures on PSLT were related to fluid abilities. The accuracy measures also indicated an age-related decline in performance on PSLT. The current patterns of results were thus inconsistent across different measures on the same tasks, and we demonstrate that this discrepancy is potentially due to floor effects on the RT difference scores. This may limit the potential of SRTT to measure sequence learning and we argue that PSLT accuracy measures could provide a more accurate reflection of learning ability. (shrink)

Human beings adapt the spontaneous pace of their actions to interact with the environment. Yet, the nature of the mechanism enabling such adaptive behavior remains poorly understood. The aim of the present contribution was to examine the role of attention in motor timing using time series analysis, and a dual task paradigm. In a series of two studies, a finger-tapping task was used in sensorimotor synchronization with various tempi and motor complexity. Time series analyzes indicated that two different (...) timing strategies were used depending on the speed constraints. At slow tempi, tapping sequences were characterized by strong negative autocorrelations, suggesting the implication of cognitive predictive timing. When moving at fast and close-to-spontaneous tempi, tapping sequences were characterized by less negative autocorrelations, suggesting that timing properties emerged from body movement dynamics. The analysis of the dual-task reaction times confirmed that both the temporal and spatial constraints impacted the attentional resources allocated to the finger-tapping tasks. Overall, our work suggests that moving fast and slow involve distinct timing strategies that are characterized by contrasting attentional demands. (shrink)

Considering that motor and cognitive processes are intertwined and inhibit or help each other throughout life and that primary school age is one of the most critical stages of children's cognitive and motor development, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between executive functions and gross motor skills in Chinese children aged 9–10 years, as well as gender differences. The flanker task, the 1-back task, the more-odd shifting task, and the test of gross motor coordination were (...) used to collect data on executive functions and gross motor coordination. The results were as follows. First, there was a weak association between gross motor coordination and the inhibition reaction time in the congruent test and the reaction time of working memory, but no association was found between gross motor coordination and cognitive flexibility. Second, a weak-to-moderate correlation was presented between the move sideways test and the inhibition reaction time in the congruent test and the reaction time in the refreshing test of the working memory. Finally, gender influenced on the relationship between gross motor coordination and the reaction time of both inhibition and working memory. To conclude, our results suggest that children with better motor coordination skills require less reaction time, especially girls, and this association was more substantial than in boys. The finding supports the current assertion that there are commonalities between gross motor coordination and cognitive control by showing the relationship between gross motor coordination and complex cognitive processes in preadolescent children. (shrink)

ObjectiveThis systematic review aims to analyze existing literature of the effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on motor skills learning of healthy adults and discuss the underlying neurophysiological mechanism that influences motor skills learning.MethodsThis systematic review has followed the recommendations of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses. The PubMed, EBSCO, and Web of Science databases were systematically searched for relevant studies that were published from database inception to May 2022. Studies were included based on (...) the Participants, Intervention, Comparison, Outcomes, and Setting inclusion strategy. The risk of bias was evaluated by using the Review manager 5.4 tool. The quality of each study was assessed with the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) scale.ResultsThe electronic search produced 142 studies. Only 11 studies were included after filtering. These studies performed well in terms of distribution, blinding availability and selective reporting. They reported that tDCS significantly improved motor skills learning. The main outcomes measure were the improvement of the motor sequence tasks and specific motor skills. Nine studies showed that tDCS interventions reduced reaction time to complete motor sequence tasks in healthy adults and two studies showed that tDCS interventions improved golf putting task performance.ConclusionThe included studies showed that tDCS can help healthy adults to improve the motor skills learning by activating different brain regions, such as the primary motor cortex, left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and right cerebellum. However, the number of included studies was limited, and the sample sizes were small. Therefore, more studies are urgently needed to validate the results of current studies and further explore the underlying neurophysiological mechanisms of tDCS in the future. (shrink)

Virtual reality (VR) is the computer simulation of a three‐dimensional environment that a person can interact with using special electronic equipment, such as a headset with an integrated display. Often coupled with VR, exergames are video games that involve physical exercise. Little is known regarding the chronic effects of exergaming through VR chon cognitive functions. Eleven young participants were enrolled in this crossover exploratory study. They had to follow two trainings of 5 consecutive days, 15 min per day, interspaced by (...) a 1‐month washout period. Trainings were performed in a random order: (1) a video training using shadow boxing fitness videos (SBV) and (2) a VR training using a three‐dimensional game where the aim is to cut moving cubes with a sword in each hand. Before and after each training period, a battery of cognitive tests was performed to assess executive functions, such as attention (change blindness), reaction time, response inhibition (go/no‐go, Stroop task), or flexibility (trail making test). Fine motor skills were also evaluated through a Fitt's task. No effect of the SBV training was observed on any of the cognitive functions tested. On the contrary, a significant increased performance in selective attention and observation tests was found after VR training, as well as in inhibitory processes (Stroop and go/no‐go). Other performances were unaffected by either VR or SBV training. The present study argues that VR exergaming is a promising tool to promote cognitive enhancement but targets specific functions according to the type of interface/game that is used. (shrink)

To evoke the impression of movement in the “immobile” image is one of the central motivations of the visual art, and the activating effect of images has been discussed in art psychology already some hundred years ago. However, this topic has up to now been largely neglected by the researchers in cognitive psychology and neuroscience. This study investigates – from an interdisciplinary perspective – the formation of lateralised instances of motion when an observer perceives movement in an image. A first (...) step was to identify images that evoke a perception of movement in a certain direction and to give this a rating. Reaction times leading to the engagement of a joystick following the presentation of images are used to evidence the postulated movement occasioned by the perception of movement in an image. Where the required direction of joystick moves matched the expected perception of movement direction in the image, considerably shorter reaction times were recorded. The experiment was able to prove a “movement-image compatibility effect” in observers of images. Based on this, the paper revisits and brings up to date the theses on motor sensory response to images which were developed in art psychology at the beginning of the 20th century. It furthermore contributes an embodiment theory interpretation to the prevalent representational explanation of compatibility effects. (shrink)

The human brain shows neuroplastic adaptations induced by motor skill training. However, the description of the plastic architecture of the whole-brain network in resting-state is still limited. In the present study, we aimed to detect how motor training affected the density distribution of whole-brain resting-state functional connectivity (FC) brain in fast-ball student-athletes using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data of student-athletes (SA), and non-athlete healthy controls (NC). The voxel-wise data-driven graph theory approach, namely global functional connectivity density (...) (gFCD) mapping was applied. The results showed that the SA group exhibited significantly decreased gFCD in brain regions centered at left triangular part of inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), extending to opercular part of left IFG and middle frontal gyrus (MFG) compared with NC group. The findings supported the idea of an increased neural efficiency of athletes’ brain in the brain regions associated with attentional-motor modulation and executive control. Furthermore, the behavioral results demonstrated that in the SA group, faster executive control reaction time was associated with smaller gFCD values in left IFG. The findings implied that the motor skill training would decrease the numbers of FC in IFG to accelerate the execution control with high attentional demands, and focus the attention to the target detection the athletes are interested in. (shrink)

This study evaluated the effects of an exergame program combined with traditional tennis training on autonomic regulation, tennis technique, gross motor skills, clinical reaction time, and cognitive inhibitory control in children. Sixty-three children were randomized into four groups and compared at baseline, 6-month immediately post intervention and at 1-year follow-up post intervention. At 6-month post intervention the combined exergame and regular training sessions revealed: higher breathing frequency, heart rate and lower skin conductance levels during exergaming; additional benefits in the (...) point of contact and kinetic chain elements of the tennis forehand and backhand technique ; negative impact on the shot preparation and the follow-through elements ; higher ball skills ; higher percentages of clinical reaction time improvement and cognitive inhibitory control improvement in both congruent and incongruent trials. The 1-year follow-up test showed no differences in the tennis technique, clinical reaction time and cognitive inhibitory control improvement between groups with the same number of trainings per week. The findings support exergaming as an additional training tool, aimed to improve important cognitive-motor tennis skills by adding dynamics to the standardized training process. Caution should be placed to planning this training, e.g., in a mesocycle, since exergaming might decrease the improvement of specific tennis technique parts of the trainees.. (shrink)

This research explored the effect of explicit Interoceptive Attentiveness manipulation on hemodynamic brain correlates during a task involving interpersonal motor coordination framed with a social goal. Participants performed a task requiring interpersonal movement synchrony with and without a social framing in both explicit IA and control conditions. Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy was used to record oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin changes during the tasks. According to the results, the prefrontal cortex, which is involved in high-order social cognition and interpersonal relations processing, (...) was more responsive when inducing the explicit focus on the breath during the socially framed motor task requiring synchronization, as indicated by increased O2Hb. In the absence of a broader social frame, this effect was not significant for the motor task. Overall, the present study suggests that when a joint task is performed and the individual focuses on his/her physiological body reactions, the brain hemodynamic correlates are “boosted” in neuroanatomical regions that support sustained attention, reorientation of attention, social responsiveness, and synchronization. Furthermore, the PFC responds significantly more as the person consciously focuses on physiological interoceptive correlates and performs a motor task requiring synchronization, particularly when the task is socially framed. (shrink)

In an experimental study of humans reactions to social motor intention in a humanoid robot, we showed that SMI cause the emergence of social interaction between human and robot. We investigated whether people would respond differently to a humanoid robot depending on the kinematic profile of its movement. A robot placed a block on a table in front of a human subject in three different ways. We designed the robot’s arm and upper body movements to manifest the human (...) kinematic profile of either a non-social motor intention or a social motor intention. In the control condition the robot performed an irregular movements. Once the robot had finished its task, the task of the human was to place another block on top of the first one. We distinguishedbetween social and non-social responses to the robot’s behavior based in gaze behavior and kinematic profile of the human’s arm movement during the task. Our results show that the behavior of the human can be modulated by the kinematics of a robot’s motor action. In several cases the participants reciprocated movements displaying social motor intention with movements with a similar kind of kinematics, attempting to make eye contact during the task. This shows that HRI can emerge implicitly by sensorimotor processing and suggests that implementing a mechanism for social-motor intention in social robots designed to interact spontaneously would be useful. (shrink)

IntroductionAlthough the motor signs of Parkinson’s disease are well defined, nonmotor symptoms, including higher-level language deficits, have also been shown to be frequent in patients with PD. In the present study, we used a lexical decision task to find out whether access to the mental lexicon is impaired in patients with PD, and whether task performance is affected by bradykinesia.Materials and MethodsParticipants were 34 nondemented patients with PD, either without medication or under optimum medication. A total of 19 age-matched (...) control volunteers were also recruited. We recorded reaction times to the LDT and a simple RT task. In each task, stimuli were either visual or auditory. Statistical analyses consisted of repeated-measures analyses of variance and Tukey’s HSD post hoc tests.ResultsIn the LDT, participants with PD both off and on medication exhibited intact access to the mental lexicon in both modalities. In the visual modality, patients off medication were just as fast as controls when identifying real words, but slower when identifying pseudowords. In the visual modality of the control task, RTs for pseudowords were significantly longer for PD patients off medication than for controls, revealing an unexpected but significant lexicality effect in patients that was not observed in the auditory modality. Performances of patients on medication did not differ from those of age-matched controls.DiscussionMotor execution was not slowed in patients with PD either off or on medication, in comparison with controls. Regarding lexical access, patients off medication seemed to have difficulty inhibiting a cognitive-linguistic process when it was not required, and exhibit a specific pseudoword processing deficit in the LDT, which may have been related to impaired lateral word inhibition within the mental lexicon. These deficits seemed to be compensated by medication. (shrink)

Maxwell et al. [Maxwell, J. P., Masters, R. S. W., Kerr, E., & Weedon, E. . The implicit benefit of learning without errors. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 54A, 1049–1068. The implicit benefit of learning without errors. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 54A, 1049–1068] suggested that, following unsuccessful movements, the learner forms hypotheses about the probable causes of the error and the required movement adjustments necessary for its elimination. Hypothesis testing is an explicit process that places demands on (...) cognitive resources. Demands on cognitive resources can be identified by measuring probe reaction times and movement times. Lengthened PRT and movement times reflects increased cognitive demands. Thus, PRT and movement times should be longer following errors, relative to successful, movements. This hypothesis was tested using a motor skill . Furthermore, the association between error processing and the preparation and execution phases of movement was examined. The data confirmed that cognitive demand is greater for trials following an error, relative to trials without an error. This effect was apparent throughout learning and in both the preparatory and execution phases of the movement. Cognitive effort also appeared to be higher during movement preparation, relative to movement execution. (shrink)

The Ouroboros Model proposes a brain inspired cognitive architecture including detailed suggestions for the main processing steps in an overall conceptualization of cognition as embodied and embedded computing. All memories are structured into schemata, which are firmly grounded in the body of an actor. A cyclic and iterative data-acquisition and -processing loop forms the backbone of all cognitive activity. Ever more sophisticated schemata are built up incrementally from the wide combination of neural activity, concurrent at the point in time when (...) the memory is established; i.e., distinct representations are accrued. Later on, an entire schema can be reinstated from diverse subsets of its constituent features. In order to decode or compile ever more elaborate constructions, extant building blocks are concatenated. They are serially linked via common or “connection-attributes” of different representations and symbols, and they are employed for serial perception, processing and action, in particular, also for language production. At various levels, commonalities between different schemata lead to a similar preferred use of their respective tokens and subsequently shared categorizations. Rules, for the concatenation of words, akin to the ones governing chemical reactions, can be abstracted. As special kinds of symbols, words and word-classes along with the whole grammar of a language can thus be seen as a direct consequence of the processes outlined in the Ouroboros Model. Strong emphasis is put on the dimension of time over short intervals during active experience and performance, and, in particular, during interactions with other agents. (shrink)

Visuomotor adaptation to novel environments can occur via non-physical means, such as observation. Observation does not appear to activate the same implicit learning processes as physical practice, rather it appears to be more strategic in nature. However, there is evidence that interspersing observational practice with physical practice can benefit performance and memory consolidation either through the combined benefits of separate processes or through a change in processes activated during observation trials. To test these ideas, we asked people to practice aiming (...) to targets with visually rotated cursor feedback or engage in a combined practice schedule comprising physical practice and observation of projected videos showing successful aiming. Ninety-three participants were randomly assigned to one of five groups: massed physical practice, distributed physical practice, or one of 3 types of combined practice: alternating blocks, or all observation before or after blocked physical practice. Participants received 100 practice trials. All groups improved in adaptation trials and showed savings across the 24-h retention interval relative to initial practice. There was some forgetting for all groups, but the magnitudes were larger for physical practice groups. The Act and Obs_During groups were most accurate in retention and did not differ, suggesting that observation can serve as a replacement for physical practice if supplied intermittently and offers advantages above just resting. However, after-effects associated with combined practice were smaller than those for physical practice control groups, suggesting that beneficial learning effects as a result of observation were not due to activation of implicit learning processes. Reaction time, variable error, and post-test rotation drawings supported this conclusion that adaptation for observation groups was promoted by explicit/strategic processes. (shrink)

ABSTRACTNegative feedback has paradoxical features to it. This form of feedback can have informational value under some circumstances, but it can also threaten the ego, potentially upsetting behaviour as a result. To investigate possible consequences of the latter type, two experiments presented positive or negative feedback within a sequence-prediction task that could not be solved. Following feedback, participants had to control their behaviours as effectively as possible in a motor control task. Relative to positive feedback, negative feedback undermined control (...) in a manner suggesting emotional upset. These reactions lasted for at least three seconds and were especially pronounced among people reporting that they typically lose control in the context of their negative emotions. The findings document a novel form of behavioural dysregulation that occurs in response to negative feedback while also highlighting the utility of motor control perspectives on self... (shrink)

The majority of the studies on attentional focus have shown that participants who were instructed to focus externally performed better than those who were taught to focus internally. However, in most of these studies the participants performed complex motor tasks. Due to the scarcity of data on the effects of attentional focus specifically on simple motor tasks, our purpose in the current study was to examine these effects on two simple reaction time tasks. The study was conducted on (...) a cloud-based experimental software. Participants were allocated to three experimental groups: an external focus group, an internal focus group, and a control group. The participants performed two tasks: a choice-RT task and a Simon task. Participants in all three groups practiced eight blocks of 20 trials from each task in a counterbalanced order – a total of 180 trials for each task. The sole difference between the three groups was the administered attentional focus instructions. The findings suggest that attentional focus instructions do not affect the performance of a choice-RT task or a Simon-task in a computerized online study. It is possible that the simple RT-based tasks in the current study were not sensitive to the attentional focus manipulation, since in such simple tasks there are not many actions that internal focus can disrupt. Although we asked the participants to what extent they followed the instructions, we cannot say whether their responses represent their actual attentional focus when performing the tasks. (shrink)

Humans are emotionally affected by cute or infantile appearances, typical of baby animals and humans, which in turn often leads to careful and cautious behavior. The purpose of this pre-registered study was to examine whether looking at cute images of baby pets improves performance of computerized cognitive-motor tasks. Ninety-eight participants were recruited for this online study and were randomly assigned to two experimental groups. The participants in one group performed two cognitive-motor tasks before and after viewing images of (...) adult pets and the participants in the other group performed the tasks before and after viewing images of baby pets. The participants who viewed images of baby pets rated them as significantly cuter and more infantile compared with those who viewed images of adult pets. All participants improved their performance from the pre-test to the post-test, but no differences in correct responses and reaction times were seen between the groups. However, pet ownership appeared to serve as a moderating variable with pet owners performing the Simon task faster than non-pet owners. In addition, pet owners reacted faster in the alternate task-switching task after viewing cute and infantile images but not after viewing images of adult pets. This effect was not found among non-pet owners. In conclusion, this study did not find that viewing cute images improves cognitive-motor performance, yet this may be dependent on moderators like pet ownership. (shrink)

Processing the motivational relevance of a visual scene and reacting accordingly is crucial for survival. Previous work suggests the emotional content of naturalistic scenes affects response speed, such that unpleasant content slows responses whereas pleasant content accelerates responses. It is unclear whether these effects reflect motor-cognitive processes, such as attentional orienting, or vary with the function/outcome of the motor response itself. Four experiments manipulated participants’ ability to terminate the picture and, thereby, the response’s function and motivational value. Attentive (...) orienting was manipulated via picture repetition, which diminishes orienting. A total of N = 81 participants completed versions of a go/no-go task, discriminating between distorted versus intact pictures drawn from six content categories varying in positive, negative, or neutral valence. While all participants responded faster with repetition, only participants without offset control exhibited slower responses to unpleasant and accelerated responses to pleasant content. Emotional engagement, measured by the late positive potential, was not modulated by attentional orienting, suggesting that the interaction between repetition and offset control is not due to altered emotional engagement. Together, results suggest that response time changes as a function of emotional content and sensitivity to attention orienting depends on the motivational function of the motor response. (shrink)

A classical theoretical frame to interpret motor reactions to emotional stimuli is that such stimuli, particularly those threat-related, are processed preferentially, i.e., they are capable of capturing and grabbing attention automatically. Research has recently challenged this view, showing that the task relevance of emotional stimuli is crucial to having a reliable behavioral effect. Such evidence indicated that emotional facial expressions do not automatically influence motor responses in healthy young adults, but they do so only when intrinsically pertinent (...) to the ongoing subject’s goals. Given the theoretical relevance of these findings, it is essential to assess their generalizability to different, socially relevant emotional stimuli such as emotional body postures. To address this issue, we compared the performance of 36 right-handed participants in two different versions of a Go/No-go task. In the Emotional Discrimination task, participants were required to withhold their responses at the display of emotional body postures and to move at the presentation of neutral postures. Differently, in the control task, the same images were shown, but participants had to respond according to the color of the actor/actress’ t-shirt, disregarding the emotional content. Results showed that participants made more commission errors for happy than fearful body postures in the Emotional Discrimination task. However, this difference disappeared in the control task. Such evidence indicates that, like facial emotion, emotional body expressions do not influence motor control automatically, but only when they are task-relevant. (shrink)

Sequential action makes up the bulk of human daily activity, and yet much remains unknown about how people learn such actions. In one motor learning paradigm, the serial reaction time (SRT) task, people are taught a consistent sequence of button presses by cueing them with the next target response. However, the SRT task only records keypress response times to a cued target, and thus it cannot reveal the full time‐course of motion, including predictive movements. This paper describes a mouse (...) movement trajectory SRT task in which the cursor must be moved to a cued location. We replicated keypress SRT results, but also found that predictive movement—before the next cue appears—increased during the experiment. Moreover, trajectory analyses revealed that people developed a centering strategy under uncertainty. In a second experiment, we made prediction explicit, no longer cueing targets. Thus, participants had to explore the response alternatives and learn via reinforcement, receiving rewards and penalties for correct and incorrect actions, respectively. Participants were not told whether the sequence of stimuli was deterministic, nor if it would repeat, nor how long it was. Given the difficulty of the task, it is unsurprising that some learners performed poorly. However, many learners performed remarkably well, and some acquired the full 10‐item sequence within 10 repetitions. Comparing the high‐ and low‐performers’ detailed results in this reinforcement learning (RL) task with the first experiment's cued trajectory SRT task, we found similarities between the two tasks, suggesting that the effects in Experiment 1 are due to predictive, rather than reactive processes. Finally, we found that two standard model‐free reinforcement learning models fit the high‐performing participants, while the four low‐performing participants provide better fit with a simple negative recency bias model. (shrink)