Citation

Fooken J, Spering M. J. Neurophysiol. 2020; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, University of British Columbia, Canada.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, American Physiological Society)

DOI

10.1152/jn.00622.2019

PMID

32159423

Abstract

Real-world tasks, such as avoiding obstacles, require a sequence of interdependent choices to reach accurate motor actions. Yet, most studies on primate decision making involve simple one-step choices. Here we analyse motor actions to investigate how sensorimotor decisions develop over time. In a go/no-go interception task human observers (n=42) judged whether a briefly-presented moving target would pass (interceptive hand movement required) or miss (no hand movement required) a strike box while their eye and hand movements were recorded. Go/no-go decision formation had to occur within the first few hundred milliseconds to allow time-critical interception. We found that the earliest time point at which eye movements started to differentiate actions (go vs. no-go) preceded hand movement onset. Moreover, eye movements were related to different stages of decision making. Whereas higher eye velocity during smooth pursuit initiation was related to more accurate interception decisions (whether or not to act), faster pursuit maintenance was associated with more accurate timing decisions (when to act). These results indicate that pursuit initiation and maintenance are continuously linked to ongoing sensorimotor decision formation.

Language: en

Keywords

manual interception; prediction; saccades; sensorimotor decision making; smooth pursuit