Visual Timing of a Striking Action Under Varying Approach Conditions
Valérie Fayt · 2019
A number of experimental studies have provided evidence for the use of τ-like information in initiating interceptive actions. The experiment described tests the possibility of using a τ-like variable for hand-movement control in a hitting task during an approach with changing acceleration. If a control strategy utilizing a t-like variable is adopted, this requires a continuous guidance of movement with respect to the optical variable. A table-tennis ball with a small strip of iron glued onto it was attached to the lower extremity of a pendulum by means of a magnet. The pendulum could be released to swing in the participants frontal plane on a trajectory perpendicular to the striking movement This set-up was designed to produce an oscillatory acceleration pattern with a maximum at the extreme of pendulum displacement and a minimum at the moment it passes through the equilibrium point which corresponded to the interception point.