Stability and flexibility of visually guided pointing movements with increasing Time-on-Task

Poster Session D - Monday, April 15, 2024, 8:00 – 10:00 am EDT, Sheraton Hall ABC

Árpád Csathó¹ (arpad.csatho@aok.pte.hu), András Matuz¹, András Zsidó², Rebeka Gőgös³, Gergő Jákóczi³; ¹Department of Behavioural Sciences, Medical School, University of Pecs, Pécs Hungary, ²Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Pécs, Pécs Hungary, ³Institute of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Pécs, Pécs Hungary

Cognitive functions regulated by prefrontal activity, constrained in capacity seem to be vulnerable to fatigue induced by increasing Time-on-Task (ToT). Movement planning is costly in terms of cognitive capacity and in line, a previous study showed that movement initiation became slower with ToT. However, it is unclear whether the slowing of movement initiation is due to fatigue vulnerability of higher functions involved in movement planning or decreased vigilance. Therefore, in two experiments (N1=26, N2=27), we investigated the effects of ToT on movement stability and flexibility as higher cognitive functions underlying movement performance. In Experiment 1, we examined the stability of movement with a mouse-tracking version of the Eriksen flanker task. Arrowhead centered on the screen and flanked by distractors indicated the direction of the target participants needed to point with the cursor. Stability of movement was assessed based on participants’ ability to inhibit incongruent distractor information with ToT. In Experiment 2, we examined the flexibility of movement with conditions where the spatial position of the target changed unexpectedly after its appearance (change-trials). The performance difference between change- and non-change trials were examined. Variables of movement preparation, execution, and subjective fatigue were recorded. Gaze position was recorded to control fixation. In both experiments, the results indicated detrimental effect of ToT induced fatigue on movement variables particularly on movement initiation. Nevertheless, both stability and flexibility of movements remained unchanged suggesting that compromised movement was due to decreasing vigilance and not to fatigue vulnerability of higher cognitive functions. Support: NKFIH-K142321

Topic Area: PERCEPTION & ACTION: Motor control