Visual Tracking and Entrainment to an Environmental Rhythm

This study investigated the role that visual tracking plays in coupling rhythmic limb movements to an environmental rhythm. Two experiments were conducted in which participants swung a hand-held pendulum while tracking an oscillating stimulus or while keeping their eyes fixed on a stationary locatio...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance 2007-08, Vol.33 (4), p.860-870
Main Authors: Schmidt, R. C, Richardson, Michael J, Arsenault, Christine, Galantucci, Bruno
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Activity levels. Psychomotricity
Biological and medical sciences
Educational Experiments
Environment
Eye Movements
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Human
Humans
Intersensory Processes
Motor ability
Object Manipulation
Perception
Perceptual Motor Coordination
Perceptual Motor Learning
Perceptual Motor Processes
Periodicity
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Psychomotor activities
Psychomotor Skills
Research Design
Rhythm
Role Perception
Spatial Ability
Stimuli
Studies
Vision
Visual Perception
Visual Stimuli
Visual task performance
Visual Tracking
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Summary:This study investigated the role that visual tracking plays in coupling rhythmic limb movements to an environmental rhythm. Two experiments were conducted in which participants swung a hand-held pendulum while tracking an oscillating stimulus or while keeping their eyes fixed on a stationary location directly above an oscillating stimulus. It was expected that the participants' rhythmic movements would become entrained to the oscillating stimulus in both conditions but that visual tracking would strengthen this entrainment. Experiment 1 investigated the role of visual tracking in establishing unintentional entrainment. Experiment 2 investigated the role of visual tracking in intentional entrainment. As predicted, participants exhibited greater unintentional coordination and more stable intentional coordination when they tracked the stimulus. These findings highlight the importance of understanding the role of eye movements in environmental coordination.
ISSN:0096-1523
1939-1277
DOI:10.1037/0096-1523.33.4.860