Auditory perception dominates in motor rhythm reproduction.

It is commonly agreed that vision is more sensitive to spatial information, while audition is more sensitive to temporal information. When both visual and auditory information are available simultaneously, the modality appropriateness hypothesis predicts that, depending on the task, the most appropriate (i.e., reliable) modality dominates perception. While previous research mainly focused on discrepant information from different sensory inputs to scrutinize the modality appropriateness hypothesis, the current study aimed at investigating the modality appropriateness hypothesis when multimodal information was provided in a nondiscrepant and simultaneous manner. To this end, participants performed a temporal rhythm reproduction task for which the auditory modality is known to be the most appropriate. The experiment comprised an auditory (i.e., beeps), a visual (i.e., flashing dots), and an audiovisual condition (i.e., beeps and dots simultaneously). Moreover, constant as well as variable interstimulus intervals were implemented. Results revealed higher accuracy and lower variability in the auditory condition for both interstimulus interval types when compared to the visual condition. More importantly, there were no differences between the auditory and the audiovisual condition across both interstimulus interval types. This indicates that the auditory modality dominated multimodal perception in the task, whereas the visual modality was disregarded and hence did not add to reproduction performance.

Effects of auditory feedback on gait behavior, gaze patterns and outcome performance in long jumping.

In the current study, we conducted two experiments to investigate the impact of concurrent, action-induced auditory feedback on gait patterns, gaze behavior and outcome performance in long jumping. In Experiment 1, we examined the effects of present vs. absent auditory feedback on gait, gaze and performance outcome measures. Results revealed a significant interaction effect between condition (present vs. absent auditory feedback) and phase (acceleration vs. zeroing-in phase) on participants' step lengths indicating that the absence (rather than the presence) of auditory feedback led to facilitatory effects in terms of a more prototypical gait pattern (i.e., shorter steps in the acceleration phase and longer steps in the zeroing-in phase). Similarly, the absent auditory feedback led to a higher gaze stability in terms of less switches between areas of interest (AOIs). However, there was no effect on jumped distance. In Experiment 2, we scrutinized the influence of concurrent vs. delayed auditory feedback on all three performance parameters. In contrast to concurrent feedback, delayed auditory feedback negatively affected all three measures: participants showed (i) dysfunctional deviations from their prototypical gait pattern (i.e., shorter steps across both phases of the run-up), (ii) less stable, maladaptive gaze patterns (i.e., more switches between AOIs) and (iii) poorer jumping performance (i.e., shorter jumped distances). Together, the two experiments provide clear evidence for the impact of concurrent, action-induced auditory feedback on the coordination of complex, rhythmical motor tasks such as the long jump.

Is gait-based visual regulation identical to gaze-based visual regulation in inexperienced athletes' long jump run-ups?

In long jumping, athletes need to hit a take-off board with both high precision and high run-up velocity to leap as far as possible. It is commonly agreed that visual regulation plays a crucial role in long jumping. To identify visual regulation, researchers have typically relied on analyses of variability in step parameters (i.e., "gait-based visual regulation"). The aim of the current study was to examine whether gait-based visual regulation coincides with measures of actual gaze control, referred to as "gaze-based visual regulation". Therefore, 15 participants performed long jumps and run-throughs while wearing a mobile eye-tracker. To compare gait-based with gaze-based visual regulation, a digital camera recorded all trials for subsequent frame-by-frame analyses of step parameters. Results revealed that gait-based visual regulation coincided with the step of the longest gaze (i.e., dwell time) on the take-off board but not with the step of initial gaze on take-off board. This finding supports the notion of visuomotor control of motor variability by means of longer gazing periods at the take-off board. In addition, our results provide initial insights to coaches and athletes on the particular requirements of visual regulation and the relationship between gait and gaze in the long jump approach.