Reaching to inhibit a prepotent response: A wearable 3-axis accelerometer kinematic analysis

PLoS One. 2021 Jul 15;16(7):e0254514. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0254514. eCollection 2021.

Abstract

The present work explores the distinctive contribution of motor planning and control to human reaching movements. In particular, the movements were triggered by the selection of a prepotent response (Dominant) or, instead, by the inhibition of the prepotent response, which required the selection of an alternative one (Non-dominant). To this end, we adapted a Go/No-Go task to investigate both the dominant and non-dominant movements of a cohort of 19 adults, utilizing kinematic measures to discriminate between the planning and control components of the two actions. In this experiment, a low-cost, easy to use, 3-axis wrist-worn accelerometer was put to good use to obtain raw acceleration data and to compute and break down its velocity components. The values obtained with this task indicate that with the inhibition of a prepotent response, the selection and execution of the alternative one yields both a longer reaction time and movement duration. Moreover, the peak velocity occurred later in time in the non-dominant response with respect to the dominant response, revealing that participants tended to indulge more in motor planning than in adjusting their movement along the way. Finally, comparing such results to the findings obtained by other means in the literature, we discuss the feasibility of an accelerometer-based analysis to disentangle distinctive cognitive mechanisms of human movements.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Biomechanical Phenomena
  • Cognition
  • Humans
  • Movement*
  • Psychomotor Performance
  • Reaction Time
  • Wrist Joint

Grants and funding

T.F. was funded by the University of Padua (https://www.unipd.it/en/), with a SID grant, and by the Beneficentia Stiftung Foundation (http://www.beneficentia-stiftung.ws/en/); G.M. was funded by the University of Bologna (https://www.unibo.it/en/homepage), with the Alma Attrezzature 2017 grant, and by the Golinelli Foundation (https://www.fondazionegolinelli.it/en), with the Data Science scholarship. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.