Control of rapid aimed hand movements: the one-target advantage

Abstract

A series of 8 experiments examined the phenomenon that a rapid aimed hand movement is executed faster when it is performed as a single, isolated movement than when it is followed by a second movement (the 1-target advantage). Three new accounts of this effect are proposed and tested: the eye movement hypothesis, the target uncertainty hypothesis, and the movement integration hypothesis. Data are reported that corroborate the 3rd hypothesis, but not the first 2 hypotheses. According to the movement integration hypothesis, the first movement in a series is slowed because control of the second movement may overlap with execution of the first. It is shown that manipulations of target size and movement direction mediate this process and determine the presence and absence of the 1-target advantage. Possible neurophysiological mechanisms and implications for motor control theory are discussed.