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Hand deviations away from visual cues: indirect evidence for inhibition
1Centre for Perception, Attention and Motor Sciences, School of Psychology, University of Wales, Bangor, Gwynedd, UK. pss060@bangor.ac.uk
Experimental Brain Research
|January 1, 1997
Summary
Manual reaching movements, like eye movements (saccades), deviate away from ignored stimuli. This study confirms that inhibitory attention mechanisms affect both eye and hand motor control.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive psychology
- Neuroscience
- Motor control
Background:
- Motor control research shows movements deviate from ignored stimuli.
- Saccade and reaching tasks previously showed path deviations under different attentional conditions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if manual reaching movements exhibit cue avoidance similar to saccades.
- To examine inhibitory attention mechanisms in selective reaching tasks.
Main Methods:
- Two experiments using selective reaching procedures with visual cues.
- Experiment 1: Assessed hand deviation from a light-emitting diode cue.
- Experiment 2: Compared hand deviation from a central cue versus central fixation.
Main Results:
- Manual reaching movements deviated away from a cued stimulus.
- Hand movements veered away from a central cue compared to fixation alone.
- Confirmed cue avoidance in manual reaching tasks.
Conclusions:
- Path deviations observed in saccades are also present in manual reaching movements.
- Findings support the role of inhibitory attention mechanisms in both eye and hand movements.