A Visual Representation and the Control of Manual Aiming Movements |
| |
Authors: | Digby Elliott Randy Calvert Melanie Jaeger Ruth Jones |
| |
Affiliation: | Motor Behaviour Laboratory School of Physical Education and Athletics McMaster University |
| |
Abstract: | Three experiments were conducted to determine if a representation of the movement environment is functional in the organization and control of limb movements, when direct visual contact with the environment is prevented. In Experiment 1, a visual rearrangement procedure was employed to show that a representation of the environment that provides inaccurate information about the spatial location of a target can disrupt manual target aiming. In Experiment 2, we demonstrated that spatial information about the position of a target can be destroyed by a visual pattern mask, supporting our claim that the representation is visual. A target-cuing procedure was used in Experiment 3 to show that representation of target position can be useful for premovement organization in a targetaiming task. Together our findings suggest that a short-lived visual representation of the movement environment may serve a useful role in the organization and control of limb movements. |
| |
Keywords: | feedback human prehension learning precision grip |
|