On-line feedback control of human visually guided slow ramp tracking: Effects of spatial separation of visual cues

Daniel W. Reed, Xuguang Liu*, R. Christopher Miall

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

19 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Visual feedback control of tracking movements is dependent upon a visual comparison of the guiding target and moving limb positions but the human fovea greatly restricts the area of high acuity vision. The effect of vertically separating the target and movement cues in a slow movement task is investigated. Subjects track a slow constant velocity target in the horizontal plane with wrist flexion controlled cursor movements. The effects of changes in the vertical distance between the two cues upon tracking performance were observed. When both cursors were at the same level, tracking was most accurate but showed significant intermittency around 2 Hz in frequency. Increased separation of cues reduced significantly both accuracy and intermittency; tracking was smoother but less accurate. Thus, feedback control is dependent upon the efficiency of positional comparison and hence becomes less effective as the cue separation increases. These results also support previous studies suggesting each cue makes an equal contribution to visuomotor feedback control, each acting as a reference to the other.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)209-212
Number of pages4
JournalNeuroscience Letters
Volume338
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 6 Mar 2003

Keywords

  • Intermittency
  • Visual feedback
  • Visually guided ramp tracking
  • Visuomotor control

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Neuroscience(all)

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