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Abstract
Synchronising our actions with external events is a task we perform without apparent effort. Its foundation relies on accurate temporal control that is widely accepted to take one of two different modes of implementation: explicit timing for discrete actions and implicit timing for smooth continuous movements. Here we assess synchronisation performance for different types of action and test the degree to which each action supports corrective updating following changes in the environment. Participants performed three different finger actions in time with an auditory pacing stimulus allowing us to assess synchronisation performance. Presenting a single perturbation to the otherwise regular metronome allowed us to examine corrections supported by movements varying in their mode of timing implementation. We find that discrete actions are less variable and support faster error correction. As such, discrete actions may be preferred when engaging in time-critical adaptive behaviour with people and objects in a dynamic environment.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 731-737 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Experimental Brain Research |
Volume | 192 |
Early online date | 2 Dec 2008 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Jan 2009 |
Keywords
- Timing
- Discrete actions
- Continuous actions
- Movement
- Synchronisation
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Dive into the research topics of 'Being discrete helps keep to the beat'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Projects
- 1 Finished
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Beating Auditory Beats: Plasticity and Selectivity in the Multimodal Integration of cues to the Temporal Control of Action
Welchman, A. & Wing, A.
Biotechnology & Biological Sciences Research Council
30/04/07 → 29/10/10
Project: Research Councils