Joint coordination during bimanual transport of real and imaginary objects

We studied multi-joint coordination during tasks of transporting real and imaginary objects with two arms. One of the arms was unexpectedly arrested in one-third of trials performed. In the absence of perturbation, multi-joint synergies stabilizing the distance between the arms early and late in the movement were seen in both conditions and even were stronger in the imaginary object condition. However, quick adjustments in the non-perturbed arm were seen only in the real object condition, whereas the non-perturbed arm did not react to the perturbation in the imaginary object condition. We conclude that tactile information is important for the central nervous system to quickly respond to perturbations in bimanual tasks. The results underscore potential differences between stability in the absence of external perturbations that may be ensured by setting a reference aperture between the hands and stability that requires adjustments in this reference aperture following a major perturbation.