An object-tracking model that combines position and speed explains spatial and temporal responses in a timing task

Many tasks require synchronizing our actions withparticular moments along the path of moving targets.However, it is controversial whether we base theseactions on spatial or temporal information, and whetherusing either can enhance our performance. Weaddressed these questions with a coincidence timin...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Aguilar Lleyda, David, Tubau Sala, Elisabet, López-Moliner, Joan
Format: article
Status:Published version
Publication Date:2018
Country:España
Institution:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
Repository:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
OAI Identifier:oai:recercat.cat:2445/148559
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/2445/148559
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Filtre de Kalman
Percepció visual
Presa de decisions
Espai i temps
Kalman filtering
Visual perception
Decision making
Space and time
Description
Summary:Many tasks require synchronizing our actions withparticular moments along the path of moving targets.However, it is controversial whether we base theseactions on spatial or temporal information, and whetherusing either can enhance our performance. Weaddressed these questions with a coincidence timingtask. A target varying in speed and motion durationapproached a goal. Participants stopped the target andwere rewarded according to its proximity to the goal.Results showed larger reward for responses temporally(rather than spatially) equidistant to the goal acrossspeeds, and this pattern was promoted by longer motiondurations. We used a Kalman filter to simulate time andspace-based responses, where modeled speeduncertainty depended on motion duration and positionaluncertainty on target speed. The comparison betweensimulated and observed responses revealed that a singleposition-tracking mechanism could account for bothspatial and temporal patterns, providing a unifiedcomputational explanation.