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Precise timing underlies many behaviors, from musical performance to navigating a dynamic environment. This study examined how stable temporal patterns that emerge during goal-directed movements influence timing acuity in perceptual discrimination. Rather than relying on explicitly timed actions, we used a selfpaced throwing task in which temporal structure develops implicitly with practice. Across three experiments, participants were trained for four days, developing stable motor timing reflected in consistent ‘‘ball release times.’’ This emergent timing selectively enhanced sensitivity to matching temporal intervals in a perceptual discrimination task. Importantly, this effect was not explained by perceptual learning and persisted over several weeks, suggesting a durable motor-perceptual linkage. The results point to a shared representation of time in action and perception, an emergent timing primitive that arises through experience in spatiotemporal movements. These findings shed light on how motor learning can shape temporal perception in ecologically relevant contexts, with implications for rehabilitation and sensorimotor integration.
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This content will become publicly available on May 1, 2026
Vocal pitch enables differential motor learning of speech segments
Previous work shows that sensorimotor learning can be specific to different motor contexts, but to date, this research has only examined contexts provided by the same effector as the learning target or its contralateral pair. We show that laryngeal movements for pitch enable differentiated learning of oral articulator movements for vowels, even when the pitch is linguistically meaningless. This indicates that motor contexts that enable learning can be generated by effectors distinct from those that undergo learning.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2120506
- PAR ID:
- 10652026
- Publisher / Repository:
- American Physiological Society
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Neurophysiology
- Volume:
- 133
- Issue:
- 5
- ISSN:
- 0022-3077
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1382 to 1391
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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