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The Effects of Practice and Load on Actual and Imagined Action

Bialko, Christopher Stephen

Abstract Details

2009, Master of Arts in Psychology, Cleveland State University, College of Science.
Research has shown similarities between actual movement durations (AMD) and imagined movement durations (IMD). These similarities are believed to reflect the extent to which an action is represented by an internal model or emulator in the brain. Differences in AMD and IMD could be due to the employment of online feedback processes during actual movement in addition to emulated feedback as suggested by emulation theory. The current study was framed by these basic components of emulation theory. Methodology similar to a study by Papaxanthis, Schieppati, Gentili, and Pozzo (2002) was used to examine AMD and IMD of the arm under different conditions of added load and practice with the hypothesis that AMD and IMD would diverge with practice. The current study replicated the previous findings of a nonsignificant difference between AMD and IMD. As opposed to divergence, the results reveal an independent decrease in AMD and lack of change in IMD over 10 blocks of trials. The results suggest that the lack of change in IMD reflects a process that protects previous learning from catastrophic interference (McCloskey and Cohen, 1989). Other analyses revealed that the variability of IMD was larger than that of AMD but also revealed that the variability of both decreased with practice. It is suggested that both practice and feedback play a role in improving the consistency of a movement's timing. Significant correlations between AMD and IMD were also found. The results are consistent with the basic components of the emulation model.
Andrew Slifkin, Ph.D. (Committee Chair)
Albert Smith, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Conor McLennan, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
42 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Bialko, C. S. (2009). The Effects of Practice and Load on Actual and Imagined Action [Master's thesis, Cleveland State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=csu1242884385

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Bialko, Christopher. The Effects of Practice and Load on Actual and Imagined Action. 2009. Cleveland State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=csu1242884385.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Bialko, Christopher. "The Effects of Practice and Load on Actual and Imagined Action." Master's thesis, Cleveland State University, 2009. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=csu1242884385

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)