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Perception of Interdependent Finger Forces During a Bimanual Finger Pressing Task
Valters Abolins1, Edgars Bernans2, Cristian Cuadra3,4
1Institute of Occupational Safety and Environmental Health, Riga Stradins University, Riga, Latvia.
Perceptual and Motor Skills
|March 9, 2026
Summary
Unintentional forces from adjacent fingers impair force perception accuracy. Matching tasks show improved accuracy when considering the total force, not just the independent component.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Motor Control
- Sensory Perception
Background:
- Force perception integrates sensory and motor signals.
- Involuntary forces from adjacent fingers impact force feedback.
- The effect of these interdependent forces on proprioception is not well understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the perception of unintentional interdependent forces during finger pressing.
- To compare the accuracy of perceiving interdependent forces versus voluntary forces.
- To explore the influence of visual feedback on force perception variability.
Main Methods:
- Experimental within-subject design with 12 participants.
- Bilateral finger-pressing tasks involving a reference and an interdependent force.
- Contralateral force matching of involuntary forces, with and without visual feedback.
Main Results:
- Perception of interdependent forces was significantly less accurate than voluntary forces.
- Matching accuracy improved when participants perceived the summed force (instructed + interdependent).
- Force perception variability increased without visual feedback, while visual cues reduced it.
Conclusions:
- Unintentional interdependent forces negatively impact perceptual accuracy.
- Weaker coupling between motor commands and sensory feedback likely underlies this impairment.
- Perceptual judgments are biased towards the total force generated, not isolated components.
