TEMPORAL UNCERTAINTY AND MOVEMENT REPLICATION: EFFECTS OF RANDOMIZED INTERVAL, ARM, SEX, END POSITION AND EXCURSION LENGTH.
Item
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Title
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TEMPORAL UNCERTAINTY AND MOVEMENT REPLICATION: EFFECTS OF RANDOMIZED INTERVAL, ARM, SEX, END POSITION AND EXCURSION LENGTH.
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Identifier
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AAI8629681
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identifier
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8629681
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Creator
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COCHRAN, JOYCE.
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Contributor
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Doreen Berman
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Date
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1986
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Psychology, Experimental
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Abstract
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In arm position replication tasks, the retention intervals between model (criterion) and replication movements are often manipulated to examine the effect of forgetting on performance. Because a left arm advantage has been found in such a task with retention intervals randomized (Nadler, 1983), it was suspected that one factor which might influence asymmetry of performance is temporal uncertainty. This can occur when retention intervals are randomized over the session rather than blocked.;Therefore, in this study, the effects of temporal uncertainty on performance in an arm positioning task were examined. Five variables, each with two levels, were investigated in Experiment 1: likelihood of occurrence of a short retention interval (temporal uncertainty), arm, end position, replication excursion length, and sex.;Results showed that at the medial position, AE was lower for the left than for the right arm, but greater at the lateral position, regardless of other variables.;The 5-way interaction was significant for CE. Difference score analysis showed that temporal uncertainty affected the lateral position of the left arm for males, the medial position of the left arm and, to a lesser degree, the lateral position of the right arm for females. The finding that temporal uncertainty had a lateralized influence on performance led to the suggestion that sequential ordering of trials would also influence laterialization of performance, since both are known to alter expectancy. This prediction was confirmed in Experiment 2, in which sequential ordering was reversed, by the absence of a significant 5-way interaction for CE.;For females, the more rightward the target position, the less the VE in Experiment 2. Also, AE was smaller for short than for long target excursion lengths. These effects may have been obscured in Experiment 1 due to the greater influence of temporal uncertainty.;The data of Experiments 1 and 2 were combined and sequential ordering effects for retention interval were examined directly. The CE was shifted positively for the left, but not for the right arm, when preceded by a long prior retention interval.;Results are discussed with reference to the right-brain arousal and left-brain activation systems. This study suggests a need to reanalyze studies of motor performance with regard to unintended arousal effects.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Psychology
