Online updating of obstacle positions when intercepting a virtual target

Crowe, Emily M.; Smeets, Jeroen B.J.; Brenner, Eli

Abstract

People rely upon sensory information in the environment to guide their actions. Ongoing goal-directed arm movements are constantly adjusted to the latest estimate of both the target and hand's positions. Does the continuous guidance of ongoing arm movements also consider the latest visual information of the position of obstacles in the surrounding? To find out, we asked participants to slide their finger across a screen to intercept a laterally moving virtual target while moving through a gap that was created by two virtual circular obstacles. At a fixed time during each trial, the target suddenly jumped slightly laterally while still continuing to move. In half the trials, the size of the gap changed at the same moment as the target jumped. As expected, participants adjusted their movements in response to the target jump. Importantly, the magnitude of this response depended on the new size of the gap. If participants were told that the circles were irrelevant, changing the gap between them had no effect on the responses. This shows that obstacles' instantaneous positions can be considered when visually guiding goal-directed movements.

Citation

Crowe, E. M., Smeets, J. B., & Brenner, E. (2023). Online updating of obstacle positions when intercepting a virtual target. Experimental Brain Research, 241(7), 1811–1820. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-023-06634-5

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 11, 2023
• Online Publication Date: May 27, 2023
• Publication Date: 2023-07
• Deposit Date: Aug 2, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 3, 2023
• Journal: Experimental Brain Research
• Print ISSN: 0014-4819
• Electronic ISSN: 1432-1106
• Publisher: Springer Verlag
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 241
• Issue: 7
• Pages: 1811–1820
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-023-06634-5
• Keywords: Perturbation, Adjustment, Online control, Interception, Obstacles
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/21903827
• Publisher URL: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00221-023-06634-5
• Additional Information: Received: 20 July 2022; Accepted: 11 May 2023; First Online: 27 May 2023; : ; : The authors declare no competing interest.