Article,
The effect of distance on reaction time in aiming movements
Experimental Brain Research, 183 (2): 249-257 (2007)
Abstract
Target distance affects movement duration in aiming tasks but its
effect on reaction time (RT) is poorly documented. RT is a function
of both preparation and initiation. Experiment 1 pre-cued movement
(allowing advanced preparation) and found no influence of distance
on RT. Thus, target distance does not affect initiation time. Experiment
2 removed pre-cue information and found that preparing a movement
of increased distance lengthens RT. Experiment 3 explored movements
to targets of cued size at non-cued distances and found size altered
peak speed and movement duration but RT was influenced by distance
alone. Thus, amplitude influences preparation time (for reasons other
than altered duration) but not initiation time. We hypothesise that
the RT distance effect might be due to the increased number of possible
trajectories associated with further targets: a hypothesis that can
be tested in future experiments.
