Intermittency of Visual Information and the Frequency of Rhythmical Force Production

Abstract

The authors examined the influence of intermittent (40-5,000 ms) visual information on the control of rhythmical isometric force output (0.5, 2.0, and 4.0 Hz) in 10 participants. Force variability decreased as a function of less intermittent visual information only in the 0.5- and 2.0-Hz tasks. Vision influenced the frequency structure of force output through 0-12 Hz in the 0.5-Hz task, but in only the 10.0- to 12.0-Hz range in the 2.0-Hz task and not in the 4.0-Hz task. The effective use of intermittent visual information in force output was mediated by task frequency, and that mediation was reflected in the differential emphasis of feedback and feedforward processes over multiple timescales of control.

Keywords:

• force variability
• Nyquist theorem
• timescales
• visuomotor processing