Predicting future sensorimotor states influences current temporal decision making

Accurate motor execution is achieved by estimating future sensory states via a forward model of limb dynamics. In the current experiment, we probed the time course over which state estimation evolves during movement planning by combining a bimanual arm crossing movement with a temporal order judgment (TOJ) task. Human participants judged which of two successive vibrotactile stimuli delivered to each index finger arrived first as they were preparing to either cross or uncross their hands. TOJ error rate was found to systematically vary in a time- and direction-dependent manner. When planning to cross the hands, error rate systematically increased as the vibrotactile stimuli were delivered closer in time to the onset of the movement. By contrast, planning to uncross the hands led to a gradual reduction in error rate as movement planning progressed. In both cases, these changes occurred before the actual alteration in hand configuration. We suggest that these systematic changes in error represent an interaction between the evolving state estimation processes and decisions regarding the timing of successive events.