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Yamada M, Jacob J, Hesling J, Johnson T, Wittenberg G, Kantak S. Goal conceptualization has distinct effects on spatial and temporal bimanual coordination after left- and right- hemisphere stroke. Hum Mov Sci 2024; 94:103196. [PMID: 38402657 PMCID: PMC10939720 DOI: 10.1016/j.humov.2024.103196] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/04/2023] [Revised: 02/15/2024] [Accepted: 02/17/2024] [Indexed: 02/27/2024]
Abstract
Perception of task goal influences motor performance and coordination. In bimanual actions, it is unclear how one's perception of task goals influences bimanual coordination and performance in individuals with unilateral stroke. We characterized inter-limb coordination differences in individuals with chronic right- and left-hemisphere damaged (RCVA: n = 24, LCVA: n = 24) stroke and age-matched neurotypical controls (n = 24) as they completed bimanual reaching tasks under distinct goal conditions. In the dual-goal condition, participants reached to move two virtual bricks (cursors) assigned to each hand toward independent targets. In the common-goal condition, they moved a central common virtual brick representing both hands to a single, central target. Spatial and temporal coordination (cross-correlation coefficients of hand velocity and their time-lag), the redundant axis deviations (the hand deviations in the axis orthogonal to the axis along the cursor-target direction), and the contribution ratio of the paretic hand were measured. Compared to the dual-goal condition, reaching actions to the common-goal demonstrated better spatial bimanual coordination in all three participant groups. Temporal coordination was better during common-goal than dual-goal actions only for the LCVA group. Additionally, and novel to this field, sex, as a biological variable, differently influenced movement time and redundant axis deviation in participants with stroke under the common-goal condition. Specifically, female stroke survivors showed larger movements in the redundant axes and, consequently, longer movement times, which was more prominent in the LCVA group. Our results indicate that perception of task goals influences bimanual coordination, with common goal improving spatial coordination in neurotypical individuals and individuals with unilateral stroke and providing additional advantage for temporal coordination in those with LCVA. Sex influences bimanual performance in stroke survivors and needs to be considered in future investigations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Masahiro Yamada
- Neuroplasticity and Motor Behavior Lab, Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute, Elkins Park, PA, United States of America; Department of Kinesiology, Whittier College, Science & Learning Center 304, Whittier, CA, United States of America
| | - Joshua Jacob
- Neuroplasticity and Motor Behavior Lab, Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute, Elkins Park, PA, United States of America
| | - Jessica Hesling
- Neuroplasticity and Motor Behavior Lab, Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute, Elkins Park, PA, United States of America
| | - Tessa Johnson
- Neuroplasticity and Motor Behavior Lab, Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute, Elkins Park, PA, United States of America; Department of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Temple University, Philadelphia, United States of America
| | - George Wittenberg
- Department of Neurology, Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, and Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh, Geriatrics Research, Education and Clinical Center, Human Engineering Research Laboratory, VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System, United States of America
| | - Shailesh Kantak
- Neuroplasticity and Motor Behavior Lab, Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute, Elkins Park, PA, United States of America; Department of Physical Therapy, Arcadia University, Glenside, PA, United States of America.
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Karabanov AN, Chillemi G, Madsen KH, Siebner HR. Dynamic involvement of premotor and supplementary motor areas in bimanual pinch force control. Neuroimage 2023; 276:120203. [PMID: 37271303 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2023.120203] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2022] [Revised: 05/25/2023] [Accepted: 05/27/2023] [Indexed: 06/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Many activities of daily living require quick shifts between symmetric and asymmetric bimanual actions. Bimanual motor control has been mostly studied during continuous repetitive tasks, while little research has been carried out in experimental settings requiring dynamic changes in motor output generated by both hands. Here, we performed functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) while healthy volunteers performed a visually guided, bimanual pinch force task. This enabled us to map functional activity and connectivity of premotor and motor areas during bimanual pinch force control in different task contexts, requiring mirror-symmetric or inverse-asymmetric changes in discrete pinch force exerted with the right and left hand. The bilateral dorsal premotor cortex showed increased activity and effective coupling to the ipsilateral supplementary motor area (SMA) in the inverse-asymmetric context compared to the mirror-symmetric context of bimanual pinch force control while the SMA showed increased negative coupling to visual areas. Task-related activity of a cluster in the left caudal SMA also scaled positively with the degree of synchronous initiation of bilateral pinch force adjustments, irrespectively of the task context. The results suggest that the dorsal premotor cortex mediates increasing complexity of bimanual coordination by increasing coupling to the SMA while SMA provides feedback about motor actions to the sensory system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anke Ninija Karabanov
- Department of Nutrition, Exercise, and Sports, Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen, Denmark; Danish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance, Centre for Functional and Diagnostic Imaging and Research, Copenhagen University Hospital Amager and Hvidovre, Hvidovre, Denmark
| | - Gaetana Chillemi
- Danish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance, Centre for Functional and Diagnostic Imaging and Research, Copenhagen University Hospital Amager and Hvidovre, Hvidovre, Denmark; IRCCS Centro Neurolesi Bonino Pulejo, Messina, Italy
| | - Kristoffer Hougaard Madsen
- Danish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance, Centre for Functional and Diagnostic Imaging and Research, Copenhagen University Hospital Amager and Hvidovre, Hvidovre, Denmark; Department of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science, Technical University of Denmark, Denmark
| | - Hartwig Roman Siebner
- Danish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance, Centre for Functional and Diagnostic Imaging and Research, Copenhagen University Hospital Amager and Hvidovre, Hvidovre, Denmark; Department of Neurology, Copenhagen University Hospital Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg, Copenhagen, Denmark; Institute for Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen Denmark
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Lin J, Lai D, Wan Z, Feng L, Zhu J, Zhang J, Wang Y, Xu K. Representation and decoding of bilateral arm motor imagery using unilateral cerebral LFP signals. Front Hum Neurosci 2023; 17:1168017. [PMID: 37388414 PMCID: PMC10304012 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2023.1168017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/17/2023] [Accepted: 05/24/2023] [Indexed: 07/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Introduction In the field of upper limb brain computer interfaces (BCIs), the research focusing on bilateral decoding mostly based on the neural signals from two cerebral hemispheres. In addition, most studies used spikes for decoding. Here we examined the representation and decoding of different laterality and regions arm motor imagery in unilateral motor cortex based on local field potentials (LFPs). Methods The LFP signals were recorded from a 96-channel Utah microelectrode array implanted in the left primary motor cortex of a paralyzed participant. There were 7 kinds of tasks: rest, left, right and bilateral elbow and wrist flexion. We performed time-frequency analysis on the LFP signals and analyzed the representation and decoding of different tasks using the power and energy of different frequency bands. Results The frequency range of <8 Hz and >38 Hz showed power enhancement, whereas 8-38 Hz showed power suppression in spectrograms while performing motor imagery. There were significant differences in average energy between tasks. What's more, the movement region and laterality were represented in two dimensions by demixed principal component analysis. The 135-300 Hz band signal had the highest decoding accuracy among all frequency bands and the contralateral and bilateral signals had more similar single-channel power activation patterns and larger signal correlation than contralateral and ipsilateral signals, bilateral and ipsilateral signals. Discussion The results showed that unilateral LFP signals had different representations for bilateral motor imagery on the average energy of the full array and single-channel power levels, and different tasks could be decoded. These proved the feasibility of multilateral BCI based on the unilateral LFP signal to broaden the application of BCI technology. Clinical trial registration https://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.aspx?proj=130829, identifier ChiCTR2100050705.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiafan Lin
- Qiushi Academy for Advanced Studies, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
- Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Cardio-Cerebral Vascular Detection Technology and Medicinal Effectiveness Appraisal, Key Laboratory for Biomedical Engineering of Ministry of Education, School of Biomedical Engineering and Instrument Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Dongrong Lai
- Qiushi Academy for Advanced Studies, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
- Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Cardio-Cerebral Vascular Detection Technology and Medicinal Effectiveness Appraisal, Key Laboratory for Biomedical Engineering of Ministry of Education, School of Biomedical Engineering and Instrument Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Zijun Wan
- Qiushi Academy for Advanced Studies, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
- Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Cardio-Cerebral Vascular Detection Technology and Medicinal Effectiveness Appraisal, Key Laboratory for Biomedical Engineering of Ministry of Education, School of Biomedical Engineering and Instrument Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | | | - Junming Zhu
- Department of Neurosurgery, Second Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
- State Key Lab of Brain-Machine Intelligence, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Jianmin Zhang
- Department of Neurosurgery, Second Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
- State Key Lab of Brain-Machine Intelligence, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Yueming Wang
- State Key Lab of Brain-Machine Intelligence, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
- College of Computer Science and Technology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
- MOE Frontier Science Center for Brain Science and Brain-Machine Integration, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Kedi Xu
- Qiushi Academy for Advanced Studies, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
- Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Cardio-Cerebral Vascular Detection Technology and Medicinal Effectiveness Appraisal, Key Laboratory for Biomedical Engineering of Ministry of Education, School of Biomedical Engineering and Instrument Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
- State Key Lab of Brain-Machine Intelligence, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
- MOE Frontier Science Center for Brain Science and Brain-Machine Integration, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
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Transcranial direct current stimulation influences repetitive bimanual force control and interlimb force coordination. Exp Brain Res 2023; 241:313-323. [PMID: 36512062 DOI: 10.1007/s00221-022-06526-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2022] [Accepted: 12/06/2022] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
This study aimed to investigate the potential effect of bilateral transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on repetitive bimanual force control and force coordination in healthy young adults. In this sham-controlled crossover study, 18 right-handed young adults were enrolled. Repetitive bimanual handgrip force control trials were performed by the participants at 40% of maximum voluntary contraction until task failure. We randomly provided bilateral active and sham tDCS to the primary motor cortex (M1) of each participant before conducting the repetitive bimanual force control task. We quantified the number of successful trials to assess the ability to maintain bimanual force control across multiple trials. Moreover, we estimated bimanual force control and force coordination by quantifying force accuracy, variability, regularity, and correlation coefficient in maximal and adjusted successful trials. Force asymmetry was calculated to examine potential changes in motor dependency on each hand during the task. Bilateral tDCS significantly increased the number of successful trials compared with sham tDCS. The adjusted successful trial revealed that participants who received bilateral tDCS maintained better bimanual force control and coordination, as indicated by decreased force variability and regularity as well as more negative correlation coefficient values in comparison with sham condition. Moreover, participants who received bilateral tDCS produced more force from the dominant hand than from the nondominant hand in both maximal and adjusted successful trials. These findings suggest that bilateral tDCS on M1 successfully maintains bimanual force control with better force coordination by modulating motor dependency.
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Johnson T, Ridgeway G, Luchmee D, Jacob J, Kantak S. Bimanual coordination during reach-to-grasp actions is sensitive to task goal with distinctions between left- and right-hemispheric stroke. Exp Brain Res 2022; 240:2359-2373. [PMID: 35869986 PMCID: PMC10077867 DOI: 10.1007/s00221-022-06419-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2021] [Accepted: 07/06/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
The perceptual feature of a task such as how a task goal is perceived influences performance and coordination of bimanual actions in neurotypical adults. To assess how bimanual task goal modifies paretic and non-paretic arm performance and bimanual coordination in individuals with stroke affecting left and right hemispheres, 30 participants with hemispheric stroke (15 right-hemisphere damage-RHD); 15 left-hemisphere damage-LHD) and 10 age-matched controls performed reach-to-grasp and pick-up actions under bimanual common-goal (i.e., two physically coupled dowels), bimanual independent-goal (two physically uncoupled dowels), and unimanual conditions. Reach-to-grasp time and peak grasp aperture indexed motor performance, while time lags between peak reach velocities, peak grasp apertures, and peak pick-up velocities of the two hands characterized reach, grasp, and pick-up coordination, respectively. Compared to unimanual actions, bimanual actions significantly slowed non-paretic arm speed to match paretic arm speed, thus affording no benefit to paretic arm performance. Detriments in non-paretic arm performance during bimanual actions was more pronounced in the RHD group. Under common-goal conditions, movements were faster with smaller peak grasp apertures compared to independent-goal conditions for all groups. Compared to controls, individuals with stroke demonstrated poor grasp and pick-up coordination. Of the patient groups, patients with LHD showed more pronounced deficits in grasp coordination between hands. Finally, grasp coordination deficits related to paretic arm motor deficits (upper extremity Fugl-Meyer score) for LHD group, and to Trail-Making Test performance for RHD group. Findings suggest that task goal and distinct clinical deficits influence bimanual performance and coordination in patients with left- and right-hemispheric stroke.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tessa Johnson
- Neuroplasticity and Motor Behavior Laboratory, Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute, Elkins Park, PA, 19027, USA
- Department of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Gordon Ridgeway
- College of Medicine, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Dustin Luchmee
- Neuroplasticity and Motor Behavior Laboratory, Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute, Elkins Park, PA, 19027, USA
| | - Joshua Jacob
- Neuroplasticity and Motor Behavior Laboratory, Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute, Elkins Park, PA, 19027, USA
| | - Shailesh Kantak
- Neuroplasticity and Motor Behavior Laboratory, Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute, Elkins Park, PA, 19027, USA.
- Department of Physical Therapy, Arcadia University, Glenside, PA, USA.
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Yao K, Sternad D, Billard A. Hand pose selection in a bimanual fine-manipulation task. J Neurophysiol 2021; 126:195-212. [PMID: 34107225 PMCID: PMC8325606 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00635.2020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Many daily tasks involve the collaboration of both hands. Humans dexterously adjust hand poses and modulate the forces exerted by fingers in response to task demands. Hand pose selection has been intensively studied in unimanual tasks, but little work has investigated bimanual tasks. This work examines hand poses selection in a bimanual high-precision-screwing task taken from watchmaking. Twenty right-handed subjects dismounted a screw on the watch face with a screwdriver in two conditions. Results showed that although subjects used similar hand poses across steps within the same experimental conditions, the hand poses differed significantly in the two conditions. In the free-base condition, subjects needed to stabilize the watch face on the table. The role distribution across hands was strongly influenced by hand dominance: the dominant hand manipulated the tool, whereas the nondominant hand controlled the additional degrees of freedom that might impair performance. In contrast, in the fixed-base condition, the watch face was stationary. Subjects used both hands even though single hand would have been sufficient. Importantly, hand poses decoupled the control of task-demanded force and torque across hands through virtual fingers that grouped multiple fingers into functional units. This preference for bimanual over unimanual control strategy could be an effort to reduce variability caused by mechanical couplings and to alleviate intrinsic sensorimotor processing burdens. To afford analysis of this variety of observations, a novel graphical matrix-based representation of the distribution of hand pose combinations was developed. Atypical hand poses that are not documented in extant hand taxonomies are also included.NEW & NOTEWORTHY We study hand poses selection in bimanual fine motor skills. To understand how roles and control variables are distributed across the hands and fingers, we compared two conditions when unscrewing a screw from a watch face. When the watch face needed positioning, role distribution was strongly influenced by hand dominance; when the watch face was stationary, a variety of hand pose combinations emerged. Control of independent task demands is distributed either across hands or across distinct groups of fingers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kunpeng Yao
- 1Learning Algorithms and Systems Laboratory, School of Engineering,
grid.5333.6École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Dagmar Sternad
- 2Department of Biology, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts,3Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts,4Department of Physics, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Aude Billard
- 1Learning Algorithms and Systems Laboratory, School of Engineering,
grid.5333.6École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
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Irmen F, Karabanov AN, Bögemann SA, Andersen KW, Madsen KH, Bisgaard T, Dyrby TB, Siebner HR. Functional and Structural Plasticity Co-express in a Left Premotor Region During Early Bimanual Skill Learning. Front Hum Neurosci 2020; 14:310. [PMID: 32922275 PMCID: PMC7456840 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2020.00310] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/10/2020] [Accepted: 07/13/2020] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Introduction: Motor skill learning already triggers the functional reorganization of regional brain activity after short periods of training. Recent studies suggest that microstructural change may emerge at similar timescales, but the spatiotemporal profiles of functional and structural plasticity have rarely been traced in parallel. Recently, we demonstrated that 5 days of endoscopic skill training induces changes in task-related brain activity in the ventral premotor cortex (PMv) and other areas of the frontoparietal grasping network. Here, we analyzed microstructural data, collected during the same experiment to investigate if microstructural plasticity overlaps temporally and spatially with the training-induced changes in task-related brain activity. Materials and Methods: Thirty-nine students were divided into a full-routine group (n = 20), that underwent three endoscopy training sessions in the MR-scanner as well as a 5-day virtual reality (VR)-endoscopy training and a brief-routine group (n = 19), that only performed the in-scanner endoscopy training sessions. Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI)-derived fractional anisotropy (FA) and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) were collected at baseline, after the first and after the last VR-training session. Results: The full-routine group showed significant FA changes in a left-hemispheric subcortical cluster underlying the PMv region, for which we previously demonstrated functional plasticity during endoscopy training in the same sample. Functional (task-related fMRI) and structural (FA) changes showed the largest change from the first to the second scan, suggesting similar temporal dynamics. In the full-routine group, the FA change in the subcortical cluster underlying the left PMv scaled positively with the individual improvement in endoscopic surgery. Conclusion: Microstructural white-matter plasticity mirrors the spatiotemporal profile of task-dependent plasticity during a 5-day course of endoscopy skill training. The observed similarities motivate future research on the interplay between functional and structural plasticity during early skill acquisition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Friederike Irmen
- Danish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance, Centre for Functional and Diagnostic Imaging and Research, Copenhagen University Hospital Hvidovre, Hvidovre, Denmark
- Department of Neurology, Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin, Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany
| | - Anke Ninija Karabanov
- Danish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance, Centre for Functional and Diagnostic Imaging and Research, Copenhagen University Hospital Hvidovre, Hvidovre, Denmark
- Department of Nutrition, Exercise, and Sports, Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Sophie Alida Bögemann
- Danish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance, Centre for Functional and Diagnostic Imaging and Research, Copenhagen University Hospital Hvidovre, Hvidovre, Denmark
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Kasper Winther Andersen
- Danish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance, Centre for Functional and Diagnostic Imaging and Research, Copenhagen University Hospital Hvidovre, Hvidovre, Denmark
| | - Kristoffer Hougaard Madsen
- Danish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance, Centre for Functional and Diagnostic Imaging and Research, Copenhagen University Hospital Hvidovre, Hvidovre, Denmark
- Department of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Thue Bisgaard
- Surgical Department, Centre for Surgical Science, Zealand University Hospital Køge, Køge, Denmark
| | - Tim B. Dyrby
- Danish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance, Centre for Functional and Diagnostic Imaging and Research, Copenhagen University Hospital Hvidovre, Hvidovre, Denmark
- Department of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Hartwig Roman Siebner
- Danish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance, Centre for Functional and Diagnostic Imaging and Research, Copenhagen University Hospital Hvidovre, Hvidovre, Denmark
- Department of Neurology, Copenhagen University Hospital Bispebjerg, Copenhagen, Denmark
- Institute for Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
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Raghunath N, Fournier LR, Kogan C. Precrastination and individual differences in working memory capacity. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2020; 85:1970-1985. [PMID: 32564130 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-020-01373-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2020] [Accepted: 06/11/2020] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
When ordering tasks, people tend to first perform the task that can be started or completed sooner (precrastination) even if it requires more physical effort. Evidence from transport tasks suggests that precrastination can reduce cognitive effort and will likely not occur if it increases cognitive effort. However, some individuals precrastinate even when it increases cognitive effort. We examined whether individual differences in working memory capacity (WMC) influence this suboptimal choice. Participants retrieved two cups of water along a corridor, in the order of their choosing. We measured the frequency of choosing the close cup first (precrastination) while varying water levels in each cup (attention demand) located at different distances. Results showed that the tendency to select the far cup first (avoid precrastination) increases when the close cup is full (high attention demand) vs. not full (low attention demand). Post-hoc results showed high (vs. low) WMC individuals more frequently bypass decisions with relatively higher costs of cognitive effort, avoiding precrastination when the attentional demand of carrying the close (vs. far) cup is relatively high (close-cup full and far-cup half full), but not when it is relatively low (far-cup full). However, there was no evidence that WMC could explain why some individuals always precrastinated, at costs of cognitive effort. Instead, individuals who always precrastinated reported automatic behavior, and those who avoided precrastinating reported decisions of efficiency. Learning, the relationship between precrastination and tendencies to enjoy/engage in thinking or procrastinate, and evidence that precrastination required more cognitive effort in our task, are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nisha Raghunath
- Department of Psychology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA.,School of Psychological Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA
| | - Lisa R Fournier
- Department of Psychology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA.
| | - Clark Kogan
- Center for Interdisciplinary Statistical Education and Research (CISER), Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA
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