Abstract
We manipulated the visual information available for grasping to examine what is visually guided when subjects get a precision grip on a common class of object (upright cylinders). In Experiment 1, objects (2 sizes) were placed at different eccentricities to vary the relative proximity to the participant’s (n = 6) body of their thumb and finger contact positions in the final grip orientations, with vision available throughout or only for movement programming. Thumb trajectories were straighter and less variable than finger paths, and the thumb normally made initial contact with the objects at a relatively invariant landing site, but consistent thumb first-contacts were disrupted without visual guidance. Finger deviations were more affected by the object’s properties and increased when vision was unavailable after movement onset. In Experiment 2, participants (n = 12) grasped ‘glow-in-the-dark’ objects wearing different luminous gloves in which the whole hand was visible or the thumb or the index finger was selectively occluded. Grip closure times were prolonged and thumb first-contacts disrupted when subjects could not see their thumb, whereas occluding the finger resulted in wider grips at contact because this digit remained distant from the object. Results were together consistent with visual feedback guiding the thumb in the period just prior to contacting the object, with the finger more involved in opening the grip and avoiding collision with the opposite contact surface. As people can overtly fixate only one object contact point at a time, we suggest that selecting one digit for online guidance represents an optimal strategy for initial grip placement. Other grasping tasks, in which the finger appears to be used for this purpose, are discussed.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anderson J, Bingham GP (2010) A solution to the online guidance problem for targeted reaches: proportional rate control using relative disparity τ. Exp Brain Res 205:291–306
Brouwer A-M, Franz VH, Gegenfurtner KR (2009) Differences in fixations between grasping and viewing objects. J Vis 9:1–24
Castiello U (2005) The neuroscience of grasping. Nat Rev 6:726–736
Churchill A, Hopkins B, Rönnqvist L, Vogt S (2000) Vision of the hand and environmental context in human prehension. Exp Brain Res 134:81–89
de Grave DDJ, Hesse C, Brouwer A-M, Franz VH (2008) Fixation locations when grasping partly occluded objects. J Vis 8:1–11
Desanghere L, Marotta JJ (2011) “Graspability” of objects affects gaze patterns during perception and action tasks. Exp Brain Res 212:177–187
Forssberg H, Eliasson AC, Kinoshita H, Johansson RS, Westling G (1991) Development of human precision grip I: basic coordination of force. Exp Brain Res 85:451–457
Galea MP, Castiello U, Dalwood N (2001) Thumb invariance during prehension movement: effects of object orientation. NeuroReport 12:2185–2187
Haggard P, Wing AM (1997) On the hand transport component of prehensile movements. J Mot Behav 29:282–287
Hoff B, Arbib MA (1993) Models of trajectory formation and temporal interaction of reach and grasp. J Mot Behav 25:175–192
Jakobson LS, Goodale MA (1991) Factors affecting higher-order movement planning: a kinematic analysis of human prehension. Exp Brain Res 86:199–208
Jeannerod M (1981) Intersegmental coordination during reaching at natural visual objects. In: Long J, Baddeley A (eds) Attention and performance IX. Eribaum, New Jersey, pp 153–169
Johansson RS, Westling G, Bäckström A, Flanagan JR (2001) Eye-hand coordination in object manipulation. J Neurosci 21:6917–6932
Kleinholdermann U, Brenner E, Franz VH, Smeets JBJ (2007) Grasping trapezoidal objects. Exp Brain Res 180:415–420
Kritikos A, Dunai J, Castiello U (2001) Modulation of reach-to-grasp parameters: semantic category, volumetric properties and distractor interference? Exp Brain Res 138:54–61
Lederman SJ, Wing AM (2003) Perceptual judgement, grasp point selection and object symmetry. Exp Brain Res 152:156–165
Melmoth DR, Grant S (2006) Advantages of binocular vision for the control of reaching and grasping. Exp Brain Res 171:371–388
Melmoth DR, Storoni M, Todd G, Finlay AL, Grant S (2007) Dissociation between vergence and binocular disparity cues in the control of prehension. Exp Brain Res 183:283–298
Meulenbroek RGJ, Rosenbaum DA, Jansen C, Vaughan J, Vogt S (2001) Multijoint grasping movements. Simulated and observed effects of object location, object size, and initial aperture. Exp Brain Res 138:219–234
Mon-Williams M, McIntosh RD (2000) A test between two hypotheses and a possible third way for the control of prehension. Exp Brain Res 134:268–273
Mon-Williams M, Tresilian JR (2001) A simple rule of thumb for elegant prehension. Curr Biol 11:1058–1061
Napier JR (1961) Prehensibility and opposability in the hands of primates. Symp Zool Soc 5:115–132
Paulignan Y, Frak VG, Toni I, Jeannerod M (1997) Influence of object position and size on human prehension movements. Exp Brain Res 114:226–234
Rosenbaum DA, Meulenbrook RJ, Vaughan J, Jansen C (2001) Posture-based motion planning: applications to grasping. Psychol Rev 108:709–734
Sakata H, Taira M, Kusunoki M, Murata A, Tanaka Y (1997) The parietal association cortex in depth perception and visual control of hand action. Trends Neurosci 20:350–356
Schettino LF, Adamovich SV, Poizner H (2003) Effects of object shape and visual feedback on hand configuration during grasping. Exp Brain Res 151:158–166
Schlicht EJ, Schrater PR (2007) Effects of visual uncertainty on grasping movements. Exp Brain Res 182:47–57
Servos P, Goodale MA (1994) Binocular vision and the on-line control of human prehension. Exp Brain Res 98:119–127
Smeets JB, Brenner E (1999) A new view on grasping. Mot Control 3:237–271
Smeets JB, Brenner E (2001) Independent movements of the digits in grasping. Exp Brain Res 139:92–100
Smeets JB, Brenner E (2002) Does a complex model help to understand grasping? Exp Brain Res 144:132–135
Soechting JF, Buneo CA, Hermann U, Flanders M (1995) Moving effortlessly in three dimensions: does Donder’s law apply to arm movement? J Neurosci 15:6271–6280
Valyear KF, Chapman CS, Gallivan JP, Marks RS, Culham JC (2011) To use or to move: goal-set modulates priming when grasping real tools. Exp Brain Res 212:125–142
Various authors (1999) Commentaries on a new view on grasping. Mot Control 3:272–315
Watt SJ, Bradshaw MF (2000) Binocular cues are important in controlling the grasp but not the reach in natural prehension movements. Neuropsychologica 38:1473–1481
Whitwell RL, Lambert LM, Goodale MA (2008) Grasping future events: explicit knowledge of the availability of visual feedback fails to reliably influence prehension. Exp Brain Res 188:603–611
Wing AM, Fraser C (1983) The contribution of the thumb to reaching movements. Q J Exp Psychol 35A:297–309
Wing AM, Turton A, Fraser C (1986) Grasp size and accuracy of approach in reaching. J Mot Behav 15:217–236
Acknowledgments
This study was supported by The Wellcome Trust (Grant 066282). We thank Dr Lore Thaler, Prof Mark Mon-Williams and an anonymous reviewer for helpful comments.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Melmoth, D.R., Grant, S. Getting a grip: different actions and visual guidance of the thumb and finger in precision grasping. Exp Brain Res 222, 265–276 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-012-3214-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-012-3214-5