Perception, Cognition, and Action Lab Director Jarrod Blinch

Overview

The Perception, Cognition, and Action Lab (PCA Lab) studies human movement from cognitive psychology and neuroscience perspectives. Our research seeks to understand how the neuromuscular system accomplishes coordinated movements.

Motor control requires an understanding of perception, information processing/dynamical systems, neuroanatomy, and biomechanics. It is a diverse field with researchers in Engineering, Kinesiology, Psychology, and Neuroscience departments.

Understanding how we make movements could help people with movement disorders. Examples of the applications of motor control to movement disorders include autism spectrum disorder, Parkinson’s disease, and stroke.

Lab Focus

We mostly focus on the motor control or reaching and grasping movements. We quantify the interaction between perception, cognition, and action with reaction time and trajectory analysis.

Current Research Themes

We are currently investigating two research themes: speed-accuracy tradeoffs (Fitts' law and Schmidt's law) and methodology of reaction time and trajectory analysis.

Blinch, J., Trovinger, C., Opdenaker, J., Clark, A. R., Gooch, C. E., Pankajkumar Joshi, H., Harry, J. R., & Mota, J. A. (2026). Contributions from Impulse and Limb-Target Regulation to Schmidt’s Linear Speed-Accuracy Tradeoff. Journal of Motor Behavior, 58(3), 338–349. https://doi.org/10.1080/00222895.2026.2650231

Blinch, J., Gooch, C. E., Clark, A. R., Murrin, B., & Bayouth, K. (2025). Reaction time distribution analysis of bimanual movements with spatial and symbolic cues. Experimental Brain Research, 243(3), 58. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-025-07010-1

Blinch, J., Nourollahimoghadam, M., Trovinger, C., Roncesvalles, M. N., Hart, M. A., & Chua, R. (2025). Limb-Target Control Increases With Effective Index of Difficulty. Journal of Motor Behavior, 57(3), 233–246. https://doi.org/10.1080/00222895.2025.2461085

Past Research Themes

Previous research themes include bimanual coordination, spatial abilities, post-error slowing, and focus of attention.

Equipment

The principle equipment in the perception, cognition, and action lab is a motion capture system that allows us to precisely track the intricate movements of the hands and arms. More specifically, we use an Impulse X2E motion capture system by PhaseSpace. It is an active marker system with nine detectors that can capture human movement at 960 frames per second with submilimeter accuracy. The Impulse X2E is a research-grade version of the technology used to capture the movements of actors for video games or films like Thanos and Hulk in the Avengers, the Na'vi in Avatar, the apes in Planet of the Apes, and Gollum in Lord of the Rings.

2026-2027 Team

• Shakti Anand - undergraduate research scholar
• Madeline Busch - undergraduate
• Zoe Irvin - undergraduate research scholar
• Gavin Mendoza - undergraduate
• Reece Moore - undergraduate
• Grace Tatman - master's degree student