Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Eye–hand coordination of symmetric bimanual reaching tasks: temporal aspects

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Experimental Brain Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Both synchronous and asynchronous coordination modes have been evidenced in bimanual movements, but psychology and motor control literatures seem to be inconclusive about what factors specifically drive these modes and when one is preferred over the other. The goal of the present study was to determine the relationship between visual feedback and the temporal symmetry/asymmetry of the two hand movements in symmetric bimanual reach movements by a systematic analysis of eye movements and their role in coordination. The coupling/decoupling of hand movements caused by the competing visual demands of each task was analyzed in a bimanual experimental paradigm in which the objects to be transported, tolerances of the placement targets, and inter-target distance were varied. The results show that although temporally symmetric until peak velocity, the extent of synchrony during the terminal phases of hand movements was significantly influenced by the visual demand associated with the experimental conditions. Four distinct eye–hand coordination patterns were identified, based on sequencing of hand movements and timing of gaze shifts from one target to another. These patterns significantly affected the kinematics of hand movements and the degree of temporal synchrony in terminal phases, thus stressing the importance of a rigorous analysis of eye movements in understanding the mechanisms of eye–hand coordination. When faced with competing visual demands, left hand guidance required more foveal visual information of the target, while right hand control could proceed until the terminal stages with the target in the peripheral field of view, thus indicating an asymmetry in the feedback requirements of the two hand systems when accuracy is critical.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adamo DE, Martin BJ (2009) Position sense asymmetry. Exp Brain Res 192:87–95

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Balakrishnan R, Hinckley K (2002) Symmetric bimanual interaction. In: Proceedings of ACM CHI conference. CHI letters, vol 2, issue 1, pp 33–40. ACM, New York

  • Baraldi P, Porro CA, Serafini M, Pagnoni G, Murari C, Corazza R, Nichelli P (1999) Bilateral representation of sequential finger movements in human cortical areas. Neurosci Lett 269:95–98

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bingham GP, Hughes K, Williams MN (2008) The coordination patterns observed when two hands reach-to-grasp separate objects. Exp Brain Res 184:283–293

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bock O (1993) Localization of objects in the peripheral visual field. Behav Brain Res 56:77–84

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bootsma RJ, van Wieringen PCW (1992) Spatio-temporal organisation of natural prehension. Hum Mov Sci 11:205–215

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bruyn JL, Mason AH (2009) Temporal coordination during bimanual reach-to-grasp movements: the role of vision. Q J Exp Psychol 62(7):1328–1342

    Google Scholar 

  • Classen J, Liepert J, Wise SP, Hallett M, Cohen LG (1998) Rapid plasticity of human cortical movement representation induced by practice. J Neurophysiol 79(2):1117–1123

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • de Oliveira SC, Barthelemy S (2005) Visual feedback reduces bimanual coupling of movement amplitudes, but not of directions. Exp Brain Res 162(1):78–88

    Google Scholar 

  • Diedrichsen J, Hazeltine E, Kennerley WS, Ivry RB (2001) Moving to directly cued locations abolishes spatial interference during bimanual actions. Psychol Sci 12(6):493–398

    Google Scholar 

  • Diedrichsen J, Nambisan R, Kennerly WS, Ivry BR (2004) Independent on-line control of the two hands during bimanual reaching. Eur J Neurosci 19(6):1643–1652

    Google Scholar 

  • Elliott D, Roy EA, Goodman D, Carson RG, Chua R, Maraj BKV (1993) Asymmetries in the preparation and control of manual aiming movements. Can J Exp Psychol 47:570–589

    Google Scholar 

  • Fisk JD, Goodale MA (1985) The organization of eye and limb movements during unrestricted reaching to targets in contralateral and ipsilateral visual space. Exp Brain Res 60:159–178

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Flowers K (1975) Handedness and controlled movement. Br J Psychol 66(1):39–52

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Goble DJ, Brown SH (2007) Task-dependent asymmetries in the utilization of proprioceptive feedback for goal-directed movement. Exp Brain Res 180(4):693–704

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Goble DJ, Brown SH (2008) Upper limb asymmetries in the matching of proprioceptive versus visual targets. J Neurophysiol 99:3063–3074

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Goble DJ, Lewis CA, Brown SH (2006) Upper limb asymmetries in the utilization of proprioceptive feedback. Exp Brain Res 168(1–2):307–311

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hoff B, Arbib MA (1993) Models of trajectory formation and temporal interaction of reach and grasp. J Mot Behav 25:175–192

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jackson GM, Jackson SR, Kritikos A (1999) Attention for action: coordinating bimanual reach-to-grasp movements. Br J Psychol 90:247–270

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jeannerod M (1981) Intersegmental coordination during reaching at natural visual objects. In: Long J, Baddeley A (eds) Attention and performance IX. MIT Press, Cambridge, pp 387–409

    Google Scholar 

  • Jeannerod M (1984) The timing of natural prehension movements. J Mot Behav 16:235–254

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jeannerod M, Prablanc C (1983) Visual control of reaching movements in man. Adv Neurol 39:13–29

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Johannson RS, Westling G, Backstrom A, Flanagan JR (2001) Eye-hand coordination in object manipulation. J Neurosci 21(17):6917–6932

    Google Scholar 

  • Keele SW (1986) Motor control. In: Boff KR, Kaufman L, Thomas JP (eds) Handbook of perception and performance, vol II. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Kelso JAS, Southard DL, Goodman D (1979) On the coordination of two-handed movements. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 5(2):229–238

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kelso JAS, Putnam CA, Goodman D (1983) On the space-time structure of human interlimb coordination. J Exp Psychol 35A:347–375

    Google Scholar 

  • Kim SG, Ashe J, Hendrich K, Ellermann JM, Merkle H, Ugurbil K, Georgopoulos AP (1993) Functional magnetic resonance imaging of motor cortex: hemispheric asymmetry and handedness. Sci 261:615–617

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Land MF, Hayhoe M (2001) In what ways do eye movements contribute to everyday activities? Vis Res 41(25–26):3559–3565

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mason AH, Bruyn JL (2008) Manual asymmetries in bimanual prehension tasks: manipulation of object size and object distance. Hum Mov Sci 28(1):48–73

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Meesen RLJ, Levin O, Swinnen SP (2007) The effect of afferent training on long-term neuroplastic changes in the human cerebral cortex. Mediterr Conf Med Biomed Engin Comput 16:643–646

    Google Scholar 

  • Nudo RJ, Milliken GW (1996) Reorganization of movement representations in primary motor cortex following focal ischemic infarcts in adult squirrel monkeys. J Neurophysiol 75(5):2144–2149

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nudo RJ, Jenkins WM, Merzenich MM, Prejean T, Grenda R (1992) Neurophysiological correlates of hand preference in primary motor cortex of adult squirrel monkeys. J Neurosci 12:2918–2947

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Paillard J, Amblard B (1985) Static versus kinetic visual cues for the processing of spatial relationships. In: Ingle DJ, Jeannerod M, Lee DN (eds) Brain mechanisms in spatial vision, pp 367–385

  • Riek S, Tresilian JR, Mon-Williams M, Coppard VL, Carson RG (2003) Bimanual aiming and overt attention: one law for two hands. Exp Brain Res 153(1):59–75

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rossetti Y, Koga K, Mano T (1993) Prismatic displacement of vision induces transient changes in timing of eye-hand coordination. Percept Psychophys 54(3):355–364

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Roy EA, Elliott D (1986) Manual asymmetries in visually directed aiming. Can J Psychol 40(22):109–121

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sailer U, Eggert T, Ditterich J, Straube A (2000) Spatial and temporal aspects of eye-hand coordination across different tasks. Exp Brain Res 134:163–173

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sainburg RL (2002) Evidence for a dynamic-dominance hypothesis of handedness. Exp Brain Res 142(2):241–258

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sainburg RL, Kalakanis D (2000) Differences in control of limb dynamics during dominant and nondominant arm reaching. J Neurophysiol 83:2661–2675

    Google Scholar 

  • Sainburg RL, Schaefer SY (2004) Interlimb differences in control of movement extent. J Neurophysiol 92:1374–1383

    Google Scholar 

  • Swinnen SP (2002) Intermanual coordination: from behavioral principles to neural-network interactions. Nat Rev Neurosci 3(5):348–359

    Google Scholar 

  • Verschueren SMP, Swinnen SP, Cordo PJ, Dounskaia NV (1999) Proprioceptive control of multijoint movement: unimanual circle drawing. Exp Brain Res 127:171–181

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang J, Sainburg RL (2004) Interlimb transfer of novel inertial dynamics is asymmetrical. J Neurophysiol 92:349–360

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the University of Michigan’s HUMOSIM consortium for their intellectual and material support of this research.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Michigan, 2200 Bonisteel Blvd., Ann Arbor, MI, 48109-2099, USA

    Divya Srinivasan

  2. Department of Industrial and Operations Engineering, The University of Michigan, 1205 Beal Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109-2117, USA

    Bernard J. Martin

Authors
  1. Divya Srinivasan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Bernard J. Martin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Divya Srinivasan.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Srinivasan, D., Martin, B.J. Eye–hand coordination of symmetric bimanual reaching tasks: temporal aspects. Exp Brain Res 203, 391–405 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-010-2241-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-010-2241-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation