Semantic category interference effects upon the reach-to-grasp movement

In the present study the kinematics of the reach-to-grasp movement towards a target object in the presence of distractors was investigated. Three experiments were conducted. In the first experiment, there were three conditions, (a) the target alone, (b) the target presented with a distractor object that was semantically similar to the target and (c) the target presented with a distractor object that was semantically different from the target. The same conditions were repeated for the second experiment but the size of the distractors were also manipulated. For the third experiment the target was presented with a distractor object that was semantically different from the target but similar in shape. In the first experiment interference effects were observed in kinematic parameters of the grasp, but not for the reach component when the target and the distractor were semantically different. In the second and the third experiment, similar results were found. Results are discussed in terms of conflicting processing between objects pertaining to different semantic categories.