Precise timing is essential for many kinds of human behavior. When a fastest response is not required, movements are initiated at the appropriate time requiring an anticipatory temporal component. Temporal mechanisms for movements with such an anticipatory component are not yet sufficiently understood; in particular, it is not known whether on the operational level for delayed movements distinct time windows are used or whether anticipatory control is characterized by continuous temporal processing. With a modified reaction‐time paradigm, we asked participants to act with predefined time delays between 400 and 5000 ms; after each individual trial, a numerical feedback was provided which allowed correction of the response time for each next trial. Visual stimuli (Experiment 1) and auditory stimuli (Experiment 2) were used. In the statistical analyses, piecewise linear models and exponential decay models for the response variability of different delay times were compared. These analyses favored piecewise linear models; a decreasing variability with increasing delay of voluntary controlled actions was observed up to ~1 s, followed by close to constant variability beyond this delay. We suggest that precise temporal control of voluntary delayed movements is reached only after a “temporal twilight zone” of ~1 s, which apparently marks a temporal border between two different timing mechanisms.

中文翻译：

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暮光区及以后：有意识地延迟行动的时间机制

精确的时间安排对于许多人类行为至关重要。如果不需要最快的响应，则在适当的时间启动运动，这需要预期的时间分量。具有这种预期成分的运动的时间机制尚未得到足够的理解。尤其是，在延迟运动的操作级别上是否使用不同的时间窗口，或者预期的控制是否以连续的时间处理为特征是未知的。在修改后的反应时间范式下，我们要求参与者以400到5000毫秒之间的预定义时间延迟行动。在每个单独的试验之后，都会提供一个数字反馈，该反馈可以校正每个下一个试验的响应时间。使用视觉刺激（实验1）和听觉刺激（实验2）。在统计分析中，比较了不同延迟时间的响应变量的分段线性模型和指数衰减模型。这些分析支持分段线性模型。观察到直到1 s左右，可变性随自愿控制行动延迟的增加而减小，然后在该延迟之后接近恒定的可变性。我们建议，只有在大约1 s的“时间暮光区”之后，才能达到对自愿性延迟运动的精确时间控制，这显然标志着两种不同计时机制之间的时间边界。其次是超出此延迟的接近恒定的可变性。我们建议，只有在〜1 s的“时间暮光区”之后，才能实现对自愿性延迟运动的精确时间控制，这显然标志了两种不同计时机制之间的时间边界。其次是超出此延迟的接近恒定的可变性。我们建议，只有在大约1 s的“时间暮光区”之后，才能达到对自愿性延迟运动的精确时间控制，这显然标志着两种不同计时机制之间的时间边界。