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Danse_Claudia_52821700Volders_Eline_41261700_2020-2021.pdf
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- Abstract
- Decision making and action preparation are part of our daily life. Each movement’s preparation depends on 2 levels of control, the selection of the action and its execution. For many years, these levels were studied separately meaning that an action was executed only after it was selected. However, based on new evidence in literature, we assume that there would be a link between those 2 processes. The aim of the present study was to investigate if the manipulation of the speed of decision making will impact the speed of movement execution and vice versa. 8 healthy human subjects performed a modified version of the "token task" where they had to indicate their choice by making 4 index flexions. Participants performed 2 sessions which contained each 2 types of condition blocks. In one session, the speed of decision making was manipulated to see the impact on the 4 flexions and in the other one, the speed of the movements was manipulated to observe its effect on the speed of decision making. The results showed that, in general, subjects made decisions in a cautious manner and followed our instructions. Surprisingly, they did not reveal any effect of the instructions regarding the decision speed on the movement duration or vice versa. Nonetheless, some evidence seems to show that these 2 levels of control can not be completely dissociated. Nevertheless, these are preliminary data, and it would be interesting to see if the trends and results are confirmed by including more subjects.