Jj. Temprado et A. Rousselle, EFFECTS OF MOVEMENT VELOCITY AND DURATION ON RESPONSE PROGRAMMING ANDPERFORMANCE IN A PUCK STRIKING TASK, International journal of sport psychology, 24(4), 1993, pp. 391-403
An experiment was carried out in order to analyze the separate effects
of movement velocity and duration on programming time and performance
in a static puck striking movement task. Performance was measured by
both time accuracy and variability of the distance moved by the puck c
onsequently to the strike. 36 subjects, separated into 3 groups, were
observed. A self-paced simple reaction time was used. Two movement vel
ocites - 60 and 180 cm/s - and three movement duration - 200, 300 and
500 ms - were used. Reaction time, movement time, percentage of incorr
ect trials, relative time accuracy and variability of the puck traject
ory were measured. The results showed that velocity, rather than durat
ion, is a key parameter of motor programming difficulty. Programming t
ime for slow movements was longer than that for movements performed at
high velocity. Variability of the distance moved by the puck increase
d as movement velocity increased but not as movement duration lengthen
ed. These results support Ulrich and Wing's (1991) conclusions, which
are that movement impulse can be changed in two ways. The first way is
to change the time parameter, this had no effect on programming time.
The second way consisted of changing the force parameter, this had a
major effect on programming time and force variability.