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Catching optical information for the regulation of timing

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Abstract

Recent research almost unambiguously refutes the hypothesis that the timing of interceptive actions is solely based on the relative rate of expansion [i.e. τ(ϕ)]. The aim of the present experiment was to evaluated the merits of eight alternative informational variables that recently have been proposed in the literature \( {\left( {{\text{i}}{\text{.e}}{\text{.}}\;\;\ifmmode\expandafter\dot\else\expandafter\.\fi{\varphi }{\text{,}}\;\ifmmode\expandafter\dot\else\expandafter\.\fi{\theta }{\text{,}}\;\ifmmode\expandafter\dot\else\expandafter\.\fi{\Delta }{\text{,}}\;\tau {\left( \varphi \right)}{\text{,}}\;\tau {\left( \theta \right)}{\text{,}}\;\tau {\left( \Delta \right)}{\text{,}}\;\tau (\varphi ,\theta ){\text{,}}\;\zeta } \right)} \). Participants (n=7) were required to regulate the spatio-temporal characteristics of their reach and grasp to catch a ball approaching on a constant spatial trajectory. To identify the information used to regulate the timing of the catch we examined the qualitative effects of ball speed (0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, and 2.5 m/s) and viewing (monocular versus binocular) on the kinematics of the catch. Subsequently, we directly assessed the quantitative relationship between informational variables and the timing of reach onset and hand closure. The findings raised serious doubts against the use of variables that specified the time-to-contact between the ball and the point of observation (i.e. relative rate of expansion and disparity). Further, optical variables solely confined to the trajectory of the ball (i.e. the absolute rate of expansion) did yield positive results for the timing of reach onset but not for the timing of hand closure. Only variables that were related to the closure of the gap between hand and ball were found to contribute to the timing of hand closure. These results suggest that information related to the constriction of the optical gap between end-effector and ball becomes more important with approach, whereas the contribution of the absolute rate of expansion becomes less leading.

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Fig. 1 A
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Fig. 3 A
Fig. 4A,B

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Notes

  1. $$\tau {\left( \varphi \right)} = {{\varphi } \over {{{\mathop \varphi \limits^ \bullet }}}} \approx {{X} \over {{{\mathop X\limits^ \bullet }}}} = TTC_{1} $$

    where X is an organism–environment property (i.e. distance between object and observer), which together with its first time-derivative defines TTC. The subscript 1 indicates that only the first-order time-derivative of X is considered. For small angles of ϕ (e.g. the angle subtended by the edges of the object and the point of observation) the organism–environment property TTC1 is specified by the optical variable τ(ϕ).

  2. Note that the optical variable η, which has received some attention in the perception of collisions as well (Sun and Frost 1998; López-Moliner and Bonnet 2002), is also a joint function of optical angle and rate of expansion.

  3. We investigated whether information sources alone could account for the observed timing of onset patterns, which does of course not exclude the possibility that a regulation based on combinations of information sources may be consistent with our data as well (e.g. Smith et al. 2001; López-Moliner and Bonnet 2002). In the present experiment we cannot falsify such a regulation based on combinations of information sources since the optical variables can be combined with scaling parameters in infinite ways.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Perceptual-Motor Control: Development, Learning and Performance, Institute for Fundamental and Clinical Human Movement Sciences, Faculty of Human Movement Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Van der Boechorststraat 9, 1081 BT, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    S. R. Caljouw, J. van der Kamp & G. J. P. Savelsbergh

  2. Department of Exercise and Sport Science, Institute for Biophysical and Clinical Research into Human Movement, Manchester Metropolitan University, Alsager, UK

    G. J. P. Savelsbergh

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  1. S. R. Caljouw
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  2. J. van der Kamp
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  3. G. J. P. Savelsbergh
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Correspondence to S. R. Caljouw.

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Caljouw, S.R., van der Kamp, J. & Savelsbergh, G.J.P. Catching optical information for the regulation of timing. Exp Brain Res 155, 427–438 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-003-1739-3

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