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

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, that required the selection of an alternative one (Non-dominant). To this aim, 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. To sample such measures, 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 such 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 with respect to the dominant response, revealing that participants tended to indulge more in motor planning rather than in adjusting their movement along the way. Finally, comparing such results to the findings obtained by other means in literature, we discuss the feasibility of an accelerometer-based analysis to disentangle distinctive cognitive mechanisms of human movements.