On the information-based regulation of movement: What Wann (1996) may want to consider.

Abstract

On the basis of a critical review of studies that examined the use of temporal information in the regulation of movement, J. P. Wann (1996) concluded that there is little evidence in favor of the use of tau. Although more experimental work is certainly needed, progress can only be made if (a) the conceptual confusion emanating from a lack of distinction between specification (i.e., information) and what is specified (i.e., relevant property of the environment-actor system) is resolved, and (b) the way in which information is used in the regulation of movement is reconsidered. It is argued that continuous control models incorporating first-order time-to-contact related information not only explain the results obtained but also allow testable accounts of the principles involved in kinematic trajectory formation.