Abstract
The purpose of this study was to test how the sensory modality of rhythmic stimuli affects the production of bimanual coordination patterns. To this aim, participants had to synchronize the taps of their two index fingers with auditory and visual stimuli presented separately (auditory or visual) or simultaneously (audio-visual). This kind of task requires two levels of coordination: (1) sensorimotor coordination, which can be measured by the mean asynchrony between the beat of the stimulus and the corresponding tap and by mean asynchrony stability, and (2) inter-manual coordination, which can be assessed by the accuracy and stability of the relative phase between the right-hand and left-hand taps. Previous studies show that sensorimotor coordination is better during the synchronization with auditory or audio-visual metronomes than with visual metronome, but it is not known whether inter-manual coordination is affected by stimulation modalities. To answer this question, 13 participants were required to tap their index fingers in synchrony with the beat of auditory and/or visual stimuli specifying three coordination patterns: two preferred inphase and antiphase patterns and a non-preferred intermediate pattern. A first main result demonstrated that inphase tapping had the best inter-manual stability, but the worst asynchrony stability. The second main finding revealed that for all patterns, audio-visual stimulation improved the stability of sensorimotor coordination but not of inter-manual coordination. The combination of visual and auditory modalities results in multisensory integration, which improves sensorimotor coordination but not inter-manual coordination. Both results suggest that there is dissociation between processes underlying sensorimotor synchronization (anticipation or reactivity) and processes underlying inter-manual coordination (motor control). This finding opens new perspectives to evaluate separately the possible sensorimotor and inter-manual coordination deficits present in movement disorders.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Note that a recent study by Kennedy et al. (2013) suggests that audio-visual stimulation provides all the information to improve inter-manual coordination when practicing a complex polyrhythmic 2:3 bimanual pattern.
References
Armstrong A, Issartel J (2014) Sensorimotor synchronization with audio-visual stimuli: limited multisensory integration. Exp Brain Res 232:3453–3463. doi:10.1007/s00221-014-4031-9
Aschersleben G (2002) Temporal control of movements in sensorimotor synchronization. Brain Cogn 48:66–79. doi:10.1006/brcg.2001.1304
Birkett EE, Talcott JB (2012) Interval timing in children: effects of auditory and visual pacing stimuli and relationships with reading and attention variables. PLoS One 7:e42820. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0042820
Blais M, Martin E, Albaret JM, Tallet J (2014) Preservation of perceptual integration improves temporal stability of bimanual coordination in the elderly: an evidence of age-related brain plasticity. Behav Brain Res 275:34–42. doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2014.08.043
Calvert G, Spence C, Stein BE (eds) (2004) The handbook of multisensory processes. MIT Press, Massachusetts
Chen Y, Ding M, Kelso JAS (2001) Origins of timing errors in human sensorimotor coordination. J Mot Behav 33:3–8
Chen Y, Repp BH, Patel AD (2002) Spectral decomposition of variability in synchronization and continuation tapping: comparisons between auditory and visual pacing and feedback conditions. Hum Mov Sci 21:515–532
Debaere F, Wenderoth N, Sunaert S, Van Hecke P, Swinnen SP (2004) Changes in brain activation during the acquisition of a new bimanual coordination task. Neuropsychologia 42:855–867
Drake C, Jones MR, Baruch C (2000) The development of rhythmic attending in auditory sequences: attunement, referent period, focal attending. Cognition 77(3):251–288
Elliott MT, Wing AM, Welchman AE (2010) Multisensory cues improve sensorimotor synchronization. Eur J Neurosci 31:1828–1835. doi:10.1111/j.1460-9568.2010.07205.x
Fraisse P (1948) Rythmes auditifs et rythmes visuels. Année Psychol 49:21–42
Fraisse P, Oléron G, Paillard J (1958) Sur les repères sensoriels qui permettent de contrôler les mouvements d’accompagnement de stimuli périodiques. Année Psychol 58:321–338
Getchell N (2006) Age and task-related differences in timing stability, consistency, and natural frequency of children’s rhythmic, motor coordination. Dev Psychobiol 48:675–685. doi:10.1002/dev.20186
Grahn JA (2012) See what I hear? Beat perception in auditory and visual rhythms. Exp Brain Res 220:51–61. doi:10.1007/s00221-012-3114-8
Grillo EU, Almeida Q, Lee TD, Abbott KV (2010) Do vision and audition influence bimanual timing coordination for in-phase and anti-phase patterns in a linear slide task? Open Sports Sci J 3:105–110
Hochberg Y (1988) A sharper Bonferroni procedure for multiple tests of significance. Biometrika 75:800–802. doi:10.1093/biomet/75.4.800
Hove MJ, Spivey MJ, Krumhansl CL (2010) Compatibility of motion facilitates visuomotor synchronization. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 36:1525–1534. doi:10.1037/a0019059
Hughes HC, Reuter-Lorenz PA, Nozawa G, Fendrich R (1994) Visual-auditory interactions in sensorimotor processing: saccades versus manual responses. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 20:131–153
Kato M, Konishi Y (2006) Auditory dominance in the error correction process: a synchronized tapping study. Brain Res 1084:115–122
Kelso JAS (1984) Phase transitions and critical behavior in human bimanual coordination. Am J Physiol 246(6 Pt 2):R1000–R1004
Kelso JAS (1995) Dynamic patterns: the self-organization of brain and behavior. The MIT Press, Cambridge
Kennedy DM, Boyle JB, Shea CH (2013) The role of auditory and visual models in the production of bimanual tapping patterns. Exp Brain Res 224:507–518
Keselman HJ (1994) Stepwise and simultaneous multiple comparison procedures of repeated-measures means. J Educ Stat 19:127–162
Oldfield RC (1971) The assessment and analysis of handedness: the Edinburgh inventory. Neuropsychologia 9:97–113
Patel AD, Iversen JR, Chen Y, Repp BH (2005) The influence of metricality and modality on synchronization with a beat. Exp Brain Res 163:226–238
Repp BH (2003) Rate limits in sensorimotor synchronization with auditory and visual sequences: the synchronization threshold and the benefits and costs of interval subdivision. J Mot Behav 35:355–370
Repp BH (2005) Sensorimotor synchronization: a review of the tapping literature. Psychon Bull Rev 12:969–992
Repp BH, Doggett R (2007) Tapping to very slow beat: a comparison of musicians and nonmusicians. Music Percept 24:367–376
Repp BH, Penel A (2002) Auditory dominance in temporal processing: new evidence from synchronization with simultaneous visual and auditory sequences. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 8:1085–1099
Repp BH, Penel A (2004) Rhythmic movement is attracted more strongly to auditory than to visual rhythms. Psychol Res 68:252–270
Repp BH, Su Y-H (2013) Sensorimotor synchronization: a review of recent research (2006–2012). Psychon Bull Rev 20:403–452
Repp BH, London J, Keller PE (2011) Perception–production relationships and phase correction in synchronization with two-interval rhythms. Psychol Res 75:227–242. doi:10.1007/s00426-010-0301-8
Ronsse R, Puttemans V, Coxon JP, Goble DJ, Wagemans J, Wenderoth N, Swinnen SP (2010) Motor learning with augmented feedback: modality-dependent behavioral and neural consequences. Cereb Cortex 21:1283–1294. doi:10.1093/cercor/bhq209
Schmidt RA, Lee TD (2011) Motor control and learning: a behavioral emphasis, 5th edn. Human Kinetics, Champaign
Semjen A, Ivry RB (2001) The coupled oscillator model of between-hand coordination in alternate-hand tapping: a reappraisal. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 27:251–265
Stein BE, Meredith MA (1993) The merging of the senses. The MITPress, Cambridge
Stein BE, Stanford TR (2008) Multisensory integration: current issues from the perspective of the single neuron. Nat Rev Neurosci 9(4):255–266
Tierney A, Kraus N (2013) The ability to move to a beat is linked to the consistency of neural responses to sound. J Neurosci 33:14981–14988. doi:10.1523/jneurosci.0612-13.2013
Tuller B, Kelso JA (1989) Environmentally-specified patterns of movement coordination in normal and split-brain subjects. Exp Brain Res 75:306–316
Varlet M, Marin L, Issartel J, Schmidt RC, Bardy BG (2012) Continuity of visual and auditory rhythms influences sensorimotor coordination. PLoS One 7(9):e44082
Vorberg D, Wing A (1996) Modeling variability and dependence in timing. Handb Percept Action 2:181–262
Walter CB, Swinnen SP (1994) The formation and dissolution of “bad habits” during the acquisition of coordination. In: Swinnen HHS, Massion J, Casaer P (eds) Interlimb coordination: neural, dynamical and cognitive constraints. Academic Press, New York, pp 491–513
Wing AM, Kristofferson AB (1973) Response delays and the timing of discrete motor responses. Percept Psychophys 14(1):5–12
Yamanishi J, Kawato M, Suzuki R (1979) Two coupled oscillators as a model for the coordinated finger tapping by both hands. Biol Cybern 37:219–225
Zaal FT, Bingham GP, Schmidt RC (2000) Visual perception of mean relative phase and phase variability. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 26:1209–1220
Zanone PG, Kelso JAS (1992) Evolution of behavioural attractors with learning: nonequilibrium phase-transitions. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 18:403–421
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Blais, M., Albaret, JM. & Tallet, J. Is there a link between sensorimotor coordination and inter-manual coordination? Differential effects of auditory and/or visual rhythmic stimulations. Exp Brain Res 233, 3261–3269 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-015-4394-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-015-4394-6