Abstract
Temporal recalibration (TR) arises to realign asynchronous stimuli after exposure to a short, constant delay between voluntary movement and sensory stimuli. The objective of this study was to determine if awareness of the temporal lag between a motor response (i.e., a keypress) and a sensory event (i.e., a visual flash) is necessary for TR to occur. We further investigated whether manipulating the motor task (i.e., single or repetitive tap task) modified the influence of awareness on TR. Participants (n = 48) were randomly divided between two groups (Group 1: Aware and Group 2: Unaware). The Aware group was told of the temporal lag between their keypress and visual flash at the beginning of the experiment, whereas the Unaware group was not. All participants judged whether the keypress or visual flash came first in 4 blocks of trials in which the motor task (single vs. repetitive tap) and fixed temporal lag between keypress and visual flash (0 ms vs. 100 ms lag) varied. TR was determined by comparing judgments between corresponding blocks of trials in which the temporal lag was 0 ms and 100 ms. Results revealed that both groups of participants demonstrated a similar magnitude of TR across the single and repetitive tap tasks, such that the magnitude of TR did not vary between Aware and Unaware participants. These results suggest that awareness of a temporal lag does not influence the magnitude of TR achieved and that motor task demands do not modulate the influence of awareness on TR.
