The Influence of Visual Information on the Motor Control of Table Tennis Strokes

2012 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 281-294 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephan Streuber ◽  
Betty J. Mohler ◽  
Heinrich H. Bülthoff ◽  
Stephan de la Rosa
Keyword(s):  
Task Performance ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Coding Theory ◽  
The Body ◽  
Interaction Partner ◽  
Table Tennis ◽  
Movement Kinematics ◽  
Common Coding ◽  
Radial Error ◽  
Many Sources

Theories of social interaction (i.e., common coding theory) suggest that visual information about the interaction partner is critical for successful interpersonal action coordination. Seeing the interaction partner allows an observer to understand and predict the interaction partner's behavior. However, it is unknown which of the many sources of visual information about an interaction partner (e.g., body, end effectors, and/or interaction objects) are used for action understanding and thus for the control of movements in response to observed actions. We used a novel immersive virtual environment to investigate this further. Specifically, we asked participants to perform table tennis strokes in response to table tennis balls stroked by a virtual table tennis player. We tested the effect of the visibility of the ball, the paddle, and the body of the virtual player on task performance and movement kinematics. Task performance was measured as the minimum distance between the center of the paddle and the center of the ball (radial error). Movement kinematics was measured as variability in the paddle speed of repeatedly executed table tennis strokes (stroke speed variability). We found that radial error was reduced when the ball was visible compared to invisible. However, seeing the body and/or the racket of the virtual players only reduced radial error when the ball was invisible. There was no influence of seeing the ball on stroke speed variability. However, we found that stroke speed variability was reduced when either the body or the paddle of the virtual player was visible. Importantly, the differences in stroke speed variability were largest in the moment when the virtual player hit the ball. This suggests that seeing the virtual player's body or paddle was important for preparing the stroke response. These results demonstrate for the first time that the online control of arm movements is coupled with visual body information about an opponent.

Situational Factors Competing for Attention

2010 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weiyu Zhang ◽  
Se-Hoon Jeong ◽  
Martin Fishbein†
Keyword(s):  
Task Performance ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Situational Factors ◽  
Sexual Content ◽  
Sexually Explicit ◽  
Explicit Content ◽  
Audio Information

This study investigates how multitasking interacts with levels of sexually explicit content to influence an individual’s ability to recognize TV content. A 2 (multitasking vs. nonmultitasking) by 3 (low, medium, and high sexual content) between-subjects experiment was conducted. The analyses revealed that multitasking not only impaired task performance, but also decreased TV recognition. An inverted-U relationship between degree of sexually explicit content and recognition of TV content was found, but only when subjects were multitasking. In addition, multitasking interfered with subjects’ ability to recognize audio information more than their ability to recognize visual information.

scholarly journals The impact of predictability on dual-task performance and implications for resource-sharing accounts

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Broeker ◽  
Harald Ewolds ◽  
Rita F. de Oliveira ◽  
Stefan Künzell ◽  
Markus Raab
Keyword(s):  
Resource Allocation ◽  
Task Performance ◽  
Dual Task ◽  
Resource Sharing ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Allocation Policy ◽  
Capacity Sharing ◽  
Dual Task Performance ◽  
Sound Sequence ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThe aim of this study was to examine the impact of predictability on dual-task performance by systematically manipulating predictability in either one of two tasks, as well as between tasks. According to capacity-sharing accounts of multitasking, assuming a general pool of resources two tasks can draw upon, predictability should reduce the need for resources and allow more resources to be used by the other task. However, it is currently not well understood what drives resource-allocation policy in dual tasks and which resource allocation policies participants pursue. We used a continuous tracking task together with an audiomotor task and manipulated advance visual information about the tracking path in the first experiment and a sound sequence in the second experiments (2a/b). Results show that performance predominantly improved in the predictable task but not in the unpredictable task, suggesting that participants did not invest more resources into the unpredictable task. One possible explanation was that the re-investment of resources into another task requires some relationship between the tasks. Therefore, in the third experiment, we covaried the two tasks by having sounds 250 ms before turning points in the tracking curve. This enabled participants to improve performance in both tasks, suggesting that resources were shared better between tasks.

scholarly journals Srdeční frekvence sportovců s mentálním postižením během zápasů národního turnaje ve stolním tenise Českého hnutí speciálních olympiád: pilotní studie

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 26-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Gimunová ◽  
Hana Válková ◽  
Tomáš Kalina
Keyword(s):  
Heart Rate ◽  
Intellectual Disabilities ◽  
Correlation Coefficients ◽  
The Body ◽  
Table Tennis ◽  
Special Olympics ◽  
Individual Fitness ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
Overweight Or Obesity ◽  
Mean Heart Rate

Heart rate values are considered to be a significant indicator of individual fitness, intensity of exerciseand sympathetic activation. There are few studies in Czech literature focused on the heart rate in athleteswith intellectual disabilities. The aim of this study was to describe the characteristics of heart rateduring fifteen table tennis matches within the 23rd national tournament of the Czech Special OlympicsMovement. Ten participants (6 males, 4 females) who for at least 3 years train regularly and participatein table tennis competitions under the Special Olympics rules, were observed. Their heart rate wasmeasured using a sports tester Forerunner® 15, Garmin Ltd, which was fastened on the participant’schest during their game day. Heart rate values during the matches were statistically processed alongwith the matches’ duration and the resulting match scores. Correlation coefficients obtained from scatterplots show a statistically significant relationship of mean heart rate values during the match withthe resulting score, probably influenced by emotion and psychological stress associated with the matchloss. The effect of match duration on the heart rate was not statistically significant during observedmatches. Subsequent analysis of the body composition of the athletes showed that sixty percent ofthem were in the category of overweight or obesity. These results highlight the need to promote healthylifestyle and physical activity in the population with intellectual disabilities.

Flexibility in Treatment: A Trial of Walking Psychotherapy

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 295-313
Author(s):  
Cathy R. Schen
Keyword(s):  
The Body ◽  
Video Conference ◽  
Self Disclosure ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Transference And Countertransference ◽  
The World ◽  
Patient Responses ◽  
Many Sources ◽  
Spread Of Infection

Flexibility in the psychotherapeutic frame of treatment arises from many sources, from the general to the personal, and can take several forms. This article looks at walking while conducting psychotherapy with patients and explores the ways in which flexibility in treatment can enhance the alliance, how walking side by side brings the body into focus with its implications for transference and countertransference, and how associations to landscape evoke past memories and access emotions. Issues relating to self-disclosure and boundaries, as well as patient responses to the psychotherapist's personally driven request to consider walking during psychotherapy are addressed. Since writing this article, the coronavirus pandemic has swept across the world and required psychotherapists everywhere to bend the frame of treatment and meet with patients virtually—by phone or video conference—to maintain social distancing and prevent the spread of infection. The hardships posed by this shift in treatment frame combine with benefits not dissimilar to those found with psychotherapy while walking.

scholarly journals Sensorimotor Research Utilising Immersive Virtual Reality: A Pilot Study with Children and Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 259
Author(s):  
Irene Valori ◽  
Rena Bayramova ◽  
Phoebe E. McKenna-Plumley ◽  
Teresa Farroni
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorders ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Individual Variability ◽  
The Body ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
Adults With Autism ◽  
Simulated Environment ◽  
Social Difficulties ◽  
Spectrum Disorders

When learning and interacting with the world, people with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) show compromised use of vision and enhanced reliance on body-based information. As this atypical profile is associated with motor and social difficulties, interventions could aim to reduce the potentially isolating reliance on the body and foster the use of visual information. To this end, head-mounted displays (HMDs) have unique features that enable the design of Immersive Virtual Realities (IVR) for manipulating and training sensorimotor processing. The present study assesses feasibility and offers some early insights from a new paradigm for exploring how children and adults with ASD interact with Reality and IVR when vision and proprioception are manipulated. Seven participants (five adults, two children) performed a self-turn task in two environments (Reality and IVR) for each of three sensory conditions (Only Proprioception, Only Vision, Vision + Proprioception) in a purpose-designed testing room and an HMD-simulated environment. The pilot indicates good feasibility of the paradigm. Preliminary data visualisation suggests the importance of considering inter-individual variability. The participants in this study who performed worse with Only Vision and better with Only Proprioception seemed to benefit from the use of IVR. Those who performed better with Only Vision and worse with Only Proprioception seemed to benefit from Reality. Therefore, we invite researchers and clinicians to consider that IVR may facilitate or impair individuals depending on their profiles.

Gaze Affects Pointing Toward Remembered Visual Targets After a Self-Initiated Step

2004 ◽  
Vol 92 (4) ◽  
pp. 2380-2393 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. A. Admiraal ◽  
N.L.W. Keijsers ◽  
C.C.A.M. Gielen
Keyword(s):  
Visual Information ◽  
Body Movement ◽  
Target Position ◽  
The Body ◽  
Complete Darkness ◽  
Step Size ◽  
Pointing Movement ◽  
Pointing Accuracy ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Variable Errors

We have investigated pointing movements toward remembered targets after an intervening self-generated body movement. We tested to what extent visual information about the environment or finger position is used in updating target position relative to the body after a step and whether gaze plays a role in the accuracy of the pointing movement. Subjects were tested in three visual conditions: complete darkness (DARK), complete darkness with visual feedback of the finger (FINGER), and with vision of a well-defined environment and with feedback of the finger (FRAME). Pointing accuracy was rather poor in the FINGER and DARK conditions, which did not provide vision of the environment. Constant pointing errors were mainly in the direction of the step and ranged from about 10 to 20 cm. Differences between binocular fixation and target position were often related to the step size and direction. At the beginning of the trial, when the target was visible, fixation was on target. After target extinction, fixation moved away from the target relative to the subject. The variability in the pointing positions appeared to be related to the variable errors in fixation, and the co-variance increases during the delay period after the step, reaching a highly significant value at the time of pointing. The significant co-variance between fixation position and pointing is not the result of a mutual dependence on the step, since we corrected for any direct contributions of the step in both signals. We conclude that the co-variance between fixation and pointing position reflects 1) a common command signal for gaze and arm movements and 2) an effect of fixation on pointing accuracy at the time of pointing.

scholarly journals Multiple Neuronal Networks Mediate Sustained Attention

2003 ◽  
Vol 15 (7) ◽  
pp. 1028-1038 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalia S. Lawrence ◽  
Thomas J. Ross ◽  
Ray Hoffmann ◽  
Hugh Garavan ◽  
Elliot A. Stein
Keyword(s):  
Task Performance ◽  
Sustained Attention ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Cognitive Strategies ◽  
Vigilance Task ◽  
Neural Substrates ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Parahippocampal Gyrus ◽  
The Neural Networks ◽  
Task Irrelevant

Sustained attention deficits occur in several neuropsychiatric disorders. However, the underlying neurobiological mechanisms are still incompletely understood. To that end, functional MRI was used to investigate the neural substrates of sustained attention (vigilance) using the rapid visual information processing (RVIP) task in 25 healthy volunteers. In order to better understand the neural networks underlying attentional abilities, brain regions where task-induced activation correlated with task performance were identified. Performance of the RVIP task activated a network of frontal, parietal, occipital, thalamic, and cerebellar regions. Deactivation during task performance was seen in the anterior and posterior cingulate, insula, and the left temporal and parahippocampal gyrus. Good task performance, as defined by better detection of target stimuli, was correlated with enhanced activation in predominantly right fronto-parietal regions and with decreased activation in predominantly left temporo-limbic and cingulate areas. Factor analysis revealed that these performance-correlated regions were grouped into two separate networks comprised of positively activated and negatively activated intercorrelated regions. Poor performers failed to significantly activate or deactivate these networks, whereas good performers either activated the positive or deactivated the negative network, or did both. The fact that both increased activation of task-specific areas and increased deactivation of task-irrelevant areas mediate cognitive functions underlying good RVIP task performance suggests two independent circuits, presumably reflecting different cognitive strategies, can be recruited to perform this vigilance task.

Fusion of Visual and Proprioceptive Information about Hand Position Prior to Movement

Perception ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 26 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. 127-127
Author(s):  
M Desmurget ◽  
Y Rossetti ◽  
C Prablanc
Keyword(s):  
Visual Information ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Visual Presentation ◽  
Accurate Estimate ◽  
Open Loop ◽  
The Body ◽  
Hand Position ◽  
Proprioceptive Information ◽  
Movement Onset ◽  
Loop Condition

The problem whether movement accuracy is better in the full open-loop condition (FOL, hand never visible) than in the static closed-loop condition (SCL, hand only visible prior to movement onset) remains widely debated. To investigate this controversial question, we studied conditions for which visual information available to the subject prior to movement onset was strictly controlled. The results of our investigation showed that the accuracy improvement observed when human subjects were allowed to see their hand, in the peripheral visual field, prior to movement: (1) concerned only the variable errors; (2) did not depend on the simultaneous vision of the hand and target (hand and target viewed simultaneously vs sequentially); (3) remained significant when pointing to proprioceptive targets; and (4) was not suppressed when the visual information was temporally (visual presentation for less than 300 ms) or spatially (vision of only the index fingertip) restricted. In addition, dissociating vision and proprioception with wedge prisms showed that a weighed hand position was used to program hand trajectory. When considered together, these results suggest that: (i) knowledge of the initial upper limb configuration or position is necessary to plan accurately goal-directed movements; (ii) static proprioceptive receptors are partially ineffective in providing an accurate estimate of the limb posture, and/or hand location relative to the body, and (iii) visual and proprioceptive information is not used in an exclusive way, but combined to furnish an accurate representation of the state of the effector prior to movement.

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