Anticipatory Resource of Temporary Regulation of Sensorimotor Action

Abstract

The aim of the study is to determine the composition and functional significance of anticipatory resources in the process of temporal regulation of sensorimotor action.

Materials and methods. The subjects were male (35 people) and female (31 people) students. The tasks of a simple sensory response, a choice reaction (three alternatives), and a “double choice” were implemented in a computer version of the experiment. In the “double choice” task, the stimulation variation was first provided (possible stimuli: one or three), and then a stimulus for a fast motor response was presented after some time, the orientation time (independent variable). Results. The participants’ initial reaction to the option with three alternative stimuli in the “double choice” task was negative. The time of the motor response falls linearly as the orientation time increases in both the male and female groups for the variant with one possible stimulus and the frequency of anticipatory effects and premature actions increases in a quadratic pattern. It must be noted that with enough orientation time, determining the expected duration of the sensorimotor action is quite straightforward. It was demonstrated that, in the presence of a margin of orientation time, operational estimates and revisions of the time required to accomplish an action dramatically improve the likelihood of anticipatory effects.

Conclusions. Actualization of the anticipatory resource (which includes temporary memory standards, the ability to accurately determine and correlate the durations of processes and time intervals, time estimation skills, and individual characteristics that influence decision making) ensures the determination of the total duration of a sensorimotor action, prompt correction of its implementation, and a significant reduction in the time it takes to respond to a motor stimulus.