Variable Motor Timing (VMT)

Variable motor timing (VMT), an aspect of variable response speeds (VRS), is timing of a motor response once the brain decides on an action, with a focus on movement precision and coordination. A component of VRS (overall response speed from receiving a sensory stimulus to initiating motor response), VMT is about voluntary movement, performed within a temporal structure (sequential timing). This is either explicit (understanding/managing to a deadline) or implicit (natural rhythm of a routine/interpreting an event). VMT and VRS coordinate activity across multiple brain regions (prefrontal cortex, supplementary motor area, superior temporal gyrus) and involve sensorimotor synchronization (coordinating timing actions with a perceived rhythmic pattern) and sensorimotor adaptation (coordinating motor output in response to external stimuli). Also see Motor Sequencing