Movements are characterized by variance at the level of execution and outcome. Handling this inherent variance is crucial for motor control – whether in everyday life or in sports –, especially in risky situations (Hossner & Zahno, 2022). Fundamental motor-control research has shown that humans use an internal estimate of their own motor variance to optimize strategies under risk (Trommershäuser et al., 2008). However, while powerful explanatory frameworks have been proposed, their empirical support is so far limited to simple lab tasks focusing on finger-pointing movements (Beck, Hossner & Zahno, 2023). The aim of our research is to investigate these mechanisms in complex, sport-related tasks in order to gain relevant insights for sports and motor disorder rehabilitation (e.g., TReND, https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101119878). To this end, we have developed a VR throwing task (see video) in which we investigate how people adapt their behaviour to changing conditions, for instance, by experimentally varying motor noise.
