Rehearsal and Learning of Embedded Movement Sequences during a Tracking Task

1982 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 615-622 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian M. Franks
Keyword(s):  
Time Lag ◽  
Specific Pattern ◽  
Tracking Task ◽  
Stimulus Sequence ◽  
Tracking Performance ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
Movement Sequences ◽  
Perceptual Changes

The first phase of the experiment was undertaken to examine the response changes that occur when a subject learns to track a repeating sequence that is embedded in a stimulus signal. The subject's tracking performance as measured by consistency and time-lag indices improved despite having no reportable knowledge of the repeating segment of the stimulus signal. The second phase investigated the perceptual changes that accompany the learning of the tracking task. It appeared that a subject's perception of the speed of a stimulus sequence while tracking varied depended upon the familiarity of the specific pattern of movements that comprised the signal.

scholarly journals Manual Tracking Performance in Patients with Cerebellar Incoordination: Effects of Mechanical Loading

1990 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 275-285 ◽  
Author(s):  
Betty-Lynn Morrice ◽  
Werner J. Becker ◽  
J.A. Hoffer ◽  
Robert G. Lee
Keyword(s):  
High Velocity ◽  
Time Lag ◽  
Normal Subjects ◽  
Elastic Stiffness ◽  
Tracking Performance ◽  
Cerebellar Hemisphere ◽  
Manual Tracking ◽  
Improve Performance ◽  
Oscilloscope Screen ◽  
Flexion Extension

ABSTRACT:Manual tracking performance was studied in five patients with cerebellar incoordination due to unilateral cerebellar hemisphere lesions. The subjects were required to track a target on an oscilloscope screen by moving a cursor controlled by flexion-extension movements of the wrist. In comparison to normal subjects, the cerebellar patients, using their clinically affected arm, demonstrated irregular tracking patterns with inappropriate accelerations and decelerations, numerous high velocity peaks of movement, and an increased time lag between the cursor and the target.The addition of a viscous load provided by feeding back wrist velocity to a torque motor coupled to the apparatus resulted in significant improvement in tracking performance and suppression of the high velocity peaks. Increasing elastic stiffness by feeding back wrist position or inertial load by adding weights to the hand did not improve performance on this task. It is proposed that a hypotonic cerebellar limb behaves like an underdamped mechanical system. The addition of viscous loads helps restore more normal damping during voluntary movements of the arm.

Toward a Taxonomy of Automobile Driving: I. Tracking

1966 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 759-762 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathaniel J. Ehrlich
Keyword(s):  
Mathematical Biophysics ◽  
Automobile Driving ◽  
Tracking Task ◽  
Constant Speed ◽  
The Other ◽  
Tracking Performance ◽  
Error Feedback ◽  
Public Road ◽  
Straight Line ◽  
Line Tracking

An experiment was conducted to explore the characteristics of straight line tracking performance in automobile driving. Two Ss were used in driving an automobile on a public road at 50, 60, 70, and 80 mph. Photographic records were made of the track of the automobile while the drivers were instructed simply to “drive as straight as possible” at a constant speed. An analysis of the tracking records indicates that different strategies were being employed by the two drivers. One corresponded to the mathematical biophysics formulation of Rashevsky (avoidance of lateral boundaries) while the other operated under the more familiar psychological laboratory tracking task (direct error-feedback). The experiment is an exploratory effort in the microcharacteristics of automobile driving.

Visuomotor Synchronization: Military Normative Performance

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun Maruta ◽  
Lisa A Spielman ◽  
Jamshid Ghajar
Keyword(s):  
Visual Tracking ◽  
Military Service ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Tracking Task ◽  
Tracking Performance ◽  
Military Population ◽  
Practical Applications ◽  
Impaired Attention ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Age And Sex

ABSTRACT Introduction Cognitive processes such as perception and reasoning are preceded and dependent on attention. Because of the close overlap between neural circuits of attention and eye movement, attention may be objectively quantified with recording of eye movements during an attention-dependent task. Our previous work demonstrated that performance scores on a circular visual tracking task that requires dynamic synchronization of the gaze with the target motion can be impacted by concussion, sleep deprivation, and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. The current study examined the characteristics of performance on a standardized predictive visual tracking task in a large sample from a U.S. Military population to provide military normative data. Materials and Methods The sample consisted of 1,594 active duty military service members of either sex aged 18-29 years old who were stationed at Fort Hood Army Base. The protocol was reviewed and approved by the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command Institutional Review Board. Demographic, medical, and military history data were collected using questionnaires, and performance-based data were collected using a circular visual tracking test and Trail Making Test. Differences in visual tracking performance by demographic characteristics were examined with a multivariate analysis of variance, as well as a Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and a rank-sum test. Associations with other measures were examined with a rank-sum test or Spearman correlations. Results Robust sex differences in visual tracking performance were found across the various statistical models, as well as age differences in several isolated comparisons. Accordingly, norms of performance scores, described in terms of percentile standings, were developed adjusting for age and sex. The effects of other measures on visual tracking performance were small or statistically non-significant. An examination of the score distributions of various metrics suggested that strategies preferred by men and women may optimize different aspects of visual tracking performance. Conclusion This large-scale quantification of attention, using dynamic visuomotor synchronization performance, provides rigorously characterized age- and sex-based military population norms. This study establishes analytics for assessing normal and impaired attention and detecting changes within individuals over time. Practical applications for combat readiness and surveillance of attention impairment from sleep insufficiency, concussion, medication, or attention disorders will be enhanced with portable, easily accessible, fast, and reliable dynamic eye-tracking technologies.

Number of Alternatives and Sequence Length in Acquisition of a Step-Function Tracking Task

1965 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 563-569 ◽  
Author(s):  
Don Trumbo ◽  
Merrill Noble ◽  
Lynn Ulrich
Keyword(s):  
Factorial Design ◽  
Verbal Learning ◽  
Step Function ◽  
Tracking Task ◽  
Tracking Performance ◽  
Sequence Length ◽  
Task Parameters ◽  
Learning Data ◽  
Integrated Error

The roles of two task parameters, sequence length ( N) and number of alternatives in the population from which the sequence was drawn ( K), were examined in a tracking task. The tasks were irregular step-function inputs wherein N was defined as the number of targets (steps) in a repeating sequence and K was defined as the number of alternative target positions. N and K were varied independently in a 3 × 3 factorial design with 9 Ss per cell. The major findings were that tracking performance, as measured by integrated error scores, is affected by increases in N, but not proportionately, while neither K nor the N × K interaction was significant. Relations of the results to verbal learning data are discussed.

Gender Differences in Response to Ambient Color, Task Complexity and Presence of Evaluative Others

1982 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
pp. 590-594
Author(s):  
Daniel J. Pond
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Task Difficulty ◽  
Task Complexity ◽  
Tracking Task ◽  
Tracking Performance ◽  
Pursuit Tracking ◽  
Versus Complex ◽  
Performance Results ◽  
Female Subjects

Sixty-four male and thirty-two female subjects each performed a CRT pursuit tracking task in one of the eight conditions created by combinations of task difficulty (simple versus complex), evaluative audience presence versus absence, and wall color (red versus green). Females recorded significantly higher error scores, were less aroused and more sensitive to ambient color than were their male counterparts. Further, audience presence was found to enhance male and impair female tracking performance. Results suggest that differentials in subject motivation may have affected the present research.

Rapid Communication Display Technology Efficiency in a Multi-Task Environment

1988 ◽  
Vol 32 (19) ◽  
pp. 1395-1399 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Swierenga Osgood ◽  
Kenneth R. Boff ◽  
Rebecca S. Donovan
Keyword(s):  
Task Performance ◽  
Information Transfer ◽  
Task Demands ◽  
Tracking Task ◽  
Tracking Performance ◽  
Transfer Rates ◽  
Rapid Communication ◽  
Spatially Distributed ◽  
Display Technology ◽  
Task Conditions

The present study examined the advantage of Rapid Communication (RAP-COM) Display Technology over conventional spatially arrayed displays in the context of secondary task demands. This research represents an early step in assessing the use of RAP-COM display techniques in multi-task environments. Eight subjects were instructed to respond to briefly presented visual stimuli, while concurrently performing an unstable tracking task at two levels of difficulty. Duration thresholds, obtained using a moment-to-moment adaptive tracking performance procedure, were collected for RAP-COM and spatially arrayed displays while RMS error scores were collected from the unstable tracking task performance. Information transfer rates for the RAP-COM technique were faster than for the spatially distributed array under both the single and dual task conditions. Regardless of secondary tracking task difficulty, subjects were able to maintain primary task performance levels on RAP-COM and spatial display tasks, although a decrement in tracking performance was seen.

A Comparison of Kinesthetic-Tactual and Visual Displays via a Critical Tracking Task

1979 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard J. Jagacinski ◽  
Dwight P. Miller ◽  
Richard D. Gilson
Keyword(s):  
Visual Tracking ◽  
Time Constant ◽  
Tracking Task ◽  
Tracking Performance ◽  
Unstable System ◽  
Visual Displays ◽  
First Order ◽  
Considerable Promise ◽  
Critical Task ◽  
Better Than

The present study investigated the feasibility of using the critical tracking task to evaluate kinesthetic-tactual displays. Subjects attempted to control a first-order unstable system with a continuously decreasing time constant by using either visual or tactual unidimensional displays. In addition, display augmentation was introduced in both modalities in the form of velocity quickening. For these unoptimized displays, visual tracking performance was better than tactual tracking, and velocity quickening improved the critical tracking scores for visual and tactual tracking about equally. Comparing across modalities, tactually quickened tracking performance was approximately equal to visually unquickened tracking. The present results suggest that the critical task methodology holds considerable promise for evaluating kinesthetic-tactual displays and that tactual tracking performance under certain conditions may yield results comparable to those of visual tracking.

Electromyographic Response to Evaluative Stress in Test Anxiety

1982 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 411-416
Author(s):  
Richard L. Hughes ◽  
Dickie A. Harris
Keyword(s):  
Test Anxiety ◽  
Performance Measures ◽  
Muscle Tension ◽  
Tracking Task ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Tracking Performance ◽  
Cognitive Factors ◽  
Primary Role ◽  
Frontalis Muscle ◽  
Relative Success

High and low test-anxious subjects performed a challenging tracking task after receiving instructions designed to maximize or minimize their evaluative apprehension. Electromyographic measures of frontalis muscle tension were recorded during the task. Actual tracking performance, subjective tension, and estimates of relative success on the task were also assessed. There were no statistically significant differences between high and low test-anxious subjects on either the physiological or the performance measures. There were, however, significant differences on the two self-report measures, suggesting a primary role for cognitive factors in test anxiety. Highly test-anxious subjects described themselves as more tense, and they more harshly evaluated their own performance.

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