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Characteristics of Latent Periods and Variability Parameters of Elements of a Simple Visuomotor Reaction: An Electromyographic Study

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Abstract

Parameters of a visuomotor reaction (VMR) were studied in young females (18–19 years of age) by interference electromyography. The stimulus detection time (sDT) and movement initiation time (MIT) as components of the simple VMR with a latency of 173.1 ± 0.36 ms were found to be 141.8 ± 0.32 and 31.3 ± 0.05 ms, respectively. Their relative contributions to the total VMR time were 81.9 and 18.1%, respectively. Average latency deviations (absolute growth on a chain basis) were 31.9 ± 1.17 ms for the sDT and 1.63 ± 0.05 ms, 19.6 times lower, for MIT. Their relative values (chain-based growth rate) were 21.1 ± 0.78 and 5.24 ± 0.17%, respectively; the latter was 4.0 times lower. The findings point to a high stability of the metric motor component in the structure of a simple VMR and an extremely high variation of the sDT. A regression analysis showed that the sDT fluctuation amplitude ΔsDT increased 27 times faster than the MIT fluctuation amplitude ΔMIT with the increasing simple VMR time (from 120 to 350 ms). The finding indicates that the sDT component makes a predominant contribution to the total variation of the psychomotor reaction.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I am grateful to M.N. Popov (head of the Department of Health and Rehabilitation; Institute of Pedagogics, Psychology, and Inclusive Education; Academy of Humanities and Pedagogics (a branch); Vernadsky Crimean Federal University) for help in organizing this work.

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  1. V. I. Vernadsky Crimean Federal University, Simferopol, Russia

    V. I. Sobolev

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Statement of compliance with standards of research involving humans as subjects. All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments and were approved by the local Ethics Committee at the Academy of Humanities and Pedagogics (a branch), Vernadsky Crimean Federal University (Yalta). All individual participants involved in the study gave their written informed consent after being informed about the potential risks and benefits and the study nature.

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Translated by T. Tkacheva

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Sobolev, V.I. Characteristics of Latent Periods and Variability Parameters of Elements of a Simple Visuomotor Reaction: An Electromyographic Study. Hum Physiol 46, 373–383 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0362119720020176

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