The interplay of perceptual processing demands and practice in modulating voluntary and involuntary motor responses

Understanding how sensory processing demands affect the ability to ignore task-irrelevant, loud auditory stimuli (LAS) during a task is key to performance in dynamic environments. For example, tennis players must ignore crowd noise to perform optimally. We investigated how practice affects this abil...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Marinovic, Welber, Nguyen, An, Vallence, A.M., Tresilian, J.R., Lipp, Ottmar
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP180100394
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/96279
_version_ 1848766125920223232
author Marinovic, Welber
Nguyen, An
Vallence, A.M.
Tresilian, J.R.
Lipp, Ottmar
author_facet Marinovic, Welber
Nguyen, An
Vallence, A.M.
Tresilian, J.R.
Lipp, Ottmar
author_sort Marinovic, Welber
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Understanding how sensory processing demands affect the ability to ignore task-irrelevant, loud auditory stimuli (LAS) during a task is key to performance in dynamic environments. For example, tennis players must ignore crowd noise to perform optimally. We investigated how practice affects this ability by examining the effects of delivering LASs during preparatory phase of an anticipatory timing (AT) task on the voluntary and reflexive responses in two conditions: lower and higher visual processing loads. Twenty-four participants (mean age = 23.1, 11 females) completed the experiment. The AT task involved synchronizing a finger abduction response with the last visual stimulus item in a sequence of four Gabor grating patches briefly flashed on screen. The lower demand condition involved only this task, and the higher demand condition required processing the orientations of the patches to report changes in the final stimulus item. Our results showed that higher visual processing demands affected the release of voluntary actions, particularly in the first block of trials. When the perceptual load was lower, responses were released earlier by the LAS compared to the high-load condition. Practice reduced these effects largely, but high perceptual load still led to earlier action release in the second block. In contrast, practice led to more apparent facilitation of eyeblink latency in the second block. These findings indicate that a simple perceptual load manipulation can impact the execution of voluntary motor actions, particularly for inexperienced participants. They also suggest distinct movement preparation influences on voluntary and involuntary actions triggered by acoustic stimuli.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T11:46:11Z
format Journal Article
id curtin-20.500.11937-96279
institution Curtin University Malaysia
institution_category Local University
language eng
last_indexed 2025-11-14T11:46:11Z
publishDate 2024
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling curtin-20.500.11937-962792024-12-18T02:12:58Z The interplay of perceptual processing demands and practice in modulating voluntary and involuntary motor responses Marinovic, Welber Nguyen, An Vallence, A.M. Tresilian, J.R. Lipp, Ottmar acoustic eyeblink startle reflex anticipatory timing loud acoustic stimulus movement preparation perceptual load Understanding how sensory processing demands affect the ability to ignore task-irrelevant, loud auditory stimuli (LAS) during a task is key to performance in dynamic environments. For example, tennis players must ignore crowd noise to perform optimally. We investigated how practice affects this ability by examining the effects of delivering LASs during preparatory phase of an anticipatory timing (AT) task on the voluntary and reflexive responses in two conditions: lower and higher visual processing loads. Twenty-four participants (mean age = 23.1, 11 females) completed the experiment. The AT task involved synchronizing a finger abduction response with the last visual stimulus item in a sequence of four Gabor grating patches briefly flashed on screen. The lower demand condition involved only this task, and the higher demand condition required processing the orientations of the patches to report changes in the final stimulus item. Our results showed that higher visual processing demands affected the release of voluntary actions, particularly in the first block of trials. When the perceptual load was lower, responses were released earlier by the LAS compared to the high-load condition. Practice reduced these effects largely, but high perceptual load still led to earlier action release in the second block. In contrast, practice led to more apparent facilitation of eyeblink latency in the second block. These findings indicate that a simple perceptual load manipulation can impact the execution of voluntary motor actions, particularly for inexperienced participants. They also suggest distinct movement preparation influences on voluntary and involuntary actions triggered by acoustic stimuli. 2024 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/96279 10.1111/psyp.14672 eng http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP180100394 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ fulltext
spellingShingle acoustic eyeblink startle reflex
anticipatory timing
loud acoustic stimulus
movement preparation
perceptual load
Marinovic, Welber
Nguyen, An
Vallence, A.M.
Tresilian, J.R.
Lipp, Ottmar
The interplay of perceptual processing demands and practice in modulating voluntary and involuntary motor responses
title The interplay of perceptual processing demands and practice in modulating voluntary and involuntary motor responses
title_full The interplay of perceptual processing demands and practice in modulating voluntary and involuntary motor responses
title_fullStr The interplay of perceptual processing demands and practice in modulating voluntary and involuntary motor responses
title_full_unstemmed The interplay of perceptual processing demands and practice in modulating voluntary and involuntary motor responses
title_short The interplay of perceptual processing demands and practice in modulating voluntary and involuntary motor responses
title_sort interplay of perceptual processing demands and practice in modulating voluntary and involuntary motor responses
topic acoustic eyeblink startle reflex
anticipatory timing
loud acoustic stimulus
movement preparation
perceptual load
url http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP180100394
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/96279