Technical Report # 127

The Role of Perception in Timing Feedback Control in Motor Programming and Task Dynamics

Geoffrey P. Bingham

Abstract

The source of temporal order in human behavior is cuIrently the subject of a debate between two principal approaches to the study of motor behavior, the motor programming approach and the task-dynamic approach Advocates of motor progsamming argue that timing is determined by a neurally instantiated motor program that imposes temporal order on the remaining components of the motor system. Advocates of the task-dynamic approach argue that timing is determined by a task-specific dynamic assembled from the various components of a perception/action system. The key difference is in the apploaches' respective treatment of perception. I will argue that perception muSst be apportioned a strong role in the organization and maintenance of timing as advocated by the task-dynamic approach.