Effects of auditory feedback on movements with two-segment sequence and eye-hand coordination

The Relationship between Neuromuscular Control and Physical Activity in the Formation of the Visual-Psychomotor Schemes in Preschools

Background: This research has started from the empirical observation that preschoolers who practice systematic and continuous physical activities can solve the tasks they receive more accurately and in less time than those who do not do sports in an organized setting. Methods: The research was carried out in 2015 in the Laboratory of Physical Therapy and Special Motricity of the Faculty of Physical Education and Mountain Sports, Transilvania University of Brasov. The survey sample included 51 preschoolers (26 boys and 25 girls), and the study implemented “real experiment” type research with a post-test phase to find out to what extent cortical stability is dependent on practicing a form of systematic movement at the ages of 4–6 years by analyzing proprioceptive sense and neuromuscular control. Thus, we could see how a 4-to-6-year-old child’s brain responds to a given stimulus by using the ERGOSIM condition simulator, which provides real-time feedback. Results: The results of the study show significant values for the visual control of the subjects by adjusting movement. Conclusions: The practice of physical activities benefits from learning through the visual scheme, having real-time feedback, and subjects being able to maintain indices closer to the required model, on the one hand, and on the other, to return with spherical correction stimuli during a wrong move much better than those in the control group. The results suggest that systematic practice of psychomotricity can improve general development and cognition in children, and that implementing this methodology could thus be useful in educative intervention.

Effects of auditory feedback on movements with two-segment sequence and eye-hand coordination: Using a short auditory contact cue

During sequential reaches to multiple targets, eye and hand movements are highly coordinated, and the gaze is anchored to each target until the reaching hand makes contact to each of them. Such contact events are monitored by multimodal (visual, proprioceptive) sensory systems, and one function of the gaze anchoring to each target is verification of successful target contact (reach completion). The present study focused on this verification function and examined how planning and control of eye and hand movements during two-segment eye-hand movements are affected by augmented auditory feedback of reach completion. Young adults made a reach to the first target with a saccade, and then made another saccade to the second target in blocked trials. An auditory target-contact cue condition delivered four short sounds during the initial reach, and the last sound was synchronized with target contact, whereas a control condition lacked the last target-contact sound. The results showed that saccadic reaction time increased with the target-contact cue, especially when the reaching accuracy demand was high. The reach also became slower with lower peak velocity and longer time to peak velocity with that cue, suggesting that the limb-motor system lower the preplanned speed of the reach in a top-down fashion for a better preparation toward reach completion. However, no auditory effects were found for the timing of gaze shift to the second target. These results were different from those seen in previous studies, indicating that the effects of the additional auditory contact feedback differ depending on behavioral tasks and cue characteristics.