Abstract
The closed loop situation of hand pointing at a target has been experimentally divided into its static and dynamic components. When the subjects see their hand at first (closed loop) until the start of the hand movement cuts off the vision of the hand (open loop), the pointing is significantly more accurate than when it is performed without any vision of the hand before and throughout the movement (fully open loop). This suggests that initial cues as regards hand and target position, improve the motor program by a better identification of initial and final states. As poor as it is, the extra retinal signal (encoding of eye position) improves performance when the foveation is done under closed loop; it allows a better redefinition of target position, and thus modulates the hand motor program through a direct central pathway, which is quicker than the processing of the visual feedback of the hand movement error.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Brindley, G.S., Goodwin, G.M., Kulikowski J.J., Lighton, D.: Stability of vision with a paralyzed eye. J. Physiol. 258, 65–66 (1976)
Megaw, E.D.: Possible modification to a rapid ongoing programmed manual response. Brain Res. 71, 425–442 (1974)
Perenin, M.T., Jeannerod, M., Prablanc, C.: Spatial localization with paralyzed eye muscles. Ophthalmologica 175, 206–214 (1977)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Prablanc, C., Echallier, J.E., Jeannerod, M. et al. Optimal response of eye and hand motor systems in pointing at a visual target. Biol. Cybernetics 35, 183–187 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00337063
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00337063