TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2013//
TI  - The impact of precaution and practice on the performance of a risky motor task
JO  - Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland)
A1  - Keren, Hila
A1  - Boyer, Pascal
A1  - Mort, Joel
A1  - Eilam, David
SP  - 316
EP  - 329
VL  - 3
IS  - 3
N2  - The association between threat perception and motor execution, mediated by evolved precaution systems, often results in ritual-like behavior, including many idiosyncratic acts that seem irrelevant to the task at hand. This study tested the hypothesis that threat-detection during performance of a risky motor task would result in idiosyncratic activity that is not necessary for task completion. We asked biology students to follow a particular set of instructions in mixing three solutions labeled "bio-hazardous" and then repeat this operation with "non-hazardous" substances (or vice versa). We observed a longer duration of the overall performance, a greater repertoire of acts, longer maximal act duration, and longer mean duration of acts in the "risky" task when it was performed before the "non-risky" task. Some, but not all, of these differences were eliminated when a "non-risky" task preceded the "risky" one. The increased performance of idiosyncratic unnecessary activity is in accordance with the working hypothesis of the present study: ritualized idiosyncratic activities are performed in response to a real or illusionary threat, as a means to alleviate anxiety.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 2076-328X
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/bs3030316
ID  - ref1
ER  -