TY - JOUR

T1 - Interaction of temporal and ordinal representations in movement sequences

AU - Kornysheva, Katja

AU - Sierk, Anika

AU - Diedrichsen, Jörn

PY - 2013/3/1

Y1 - 2013/3/1

N2 - The production of movement sequences requires an accurate control of muscle activation in time. How does the nervous system encode the precise timing of these movements? One possibility is that the timing of movements (temporal sequence) is an emergent property of the dynamic state of the nervous system and therefore intimately linked to a representation of the sequence of muscle commands (ordinal sequence). Alternatively, timing may be represented independently of the motor effectors and would be transferable to a new ordinal sequence. Some studies have found that a learned temporal sequence cannot be transferred to a new ordinal sequence, thus arguing for an integrated representation. Others have observed temporal transfer across movement sequences and have advocated an independent representation of temporal information. Using a modified serial reaction time task, we tested alternative models of the representation of temporal structure and the interaction between the output of separate ordinal and temporal sequence representations. Temporal transfer depended on whether a novel ordinal sequence was fixed within each test block. Our results confirm the presence of an independent representation of temporal structure and advocate a nonlinear multiplicative neural interaction of temporal and ordinal signals in the production of movements.

AB - The production of movement sequences requires an accurate control of muscle activation in time. How does the nervous system encode the precise timing of these movements? One possibility is that the timing of movements (temporal sequence) is an emergent property of the dynamic state of the nervous system and therefore intimately linked to a representation of the sequence of muscle commands (ordinal sequence). Alternatively, timing may be represented independently of the motor effectors and would be transferable to a new ordinal sequence. Some studies have found that a learned temporal sequence cannot be transferred to a new ordinal sequence, thus arguing for an integrated representation. Others have observed temporal transfer across movement sequences and have advocated an independent representation of temporal information. Using a modified serial reaction time task, we tested alternative models of the representation of temporal structure and the interaction between the output of separate ordinal and temporal sequence representations. Temporal transfer depended on whether a novel ordinal sequence was fixed within each test block. Our results confirm the presence of an independent representation of temporal structure and advocate a nonlinear multiplicative neural interaction of temporal and ordinal signals in the production of movements.

KW - Adult

KW - Female

KW - Humans

KW - Learning

KW - Male

KW - Models, Neurological

KW - Movement

KW - Psychomotor Performance

KW - Reaction Time

KW - Journal Article

KW - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

U2 - 10.1152/jn.00509.2012

DO - 10.1152/jn.00509.2012

M3 - Article

C2 - 23221413

VL - 109

SP - 1416

EP - 1424

JO - Journal of Neurophysiology

JF - Journal of Neurophysiology

SN - 0022-3077

IS - 5

ER -