Abstract
The visuomotor processes involved in gras** a 2-D target are known to be fundamentally different than those involved in gras** a 3-D object, and this has led to concerns regarding the generalizability of 2-D gras** research. This study directly compared participants’ fixation positions and digit placement during interaction with either physical square objects or 2-D virtual versions of these objects. Participants were instructed to either simply grasp the stimulus or grasp and slide it to another location. Participants’ digit placement and fixation positions did not significantly differ as a function of stimulus type when gras** in the center of the display. However, gaze and grasp positions shifted toward the near side of non-central virtual stimuli, while consistently remaining close to the horizontal midline of the physical stimulus. Participants placed their digits at less stable locations when gras** the virtual stimulus in comparison to the physical stimulus on the right side of the display, but this difference disappeared when gras** in the center and on the left. Similar outward shifts in digit placement and lowered fixations were observed when sliding both stimulus types, suggesting participants incorporated similar adjustments in grasp selection in anticipation of manipulation in both Physical and Virtual stimulus conditions. These results suggest that while fixation position and grasp point selection differed between stimulus type as a function of stimulus position, certain eye-hand coordinated behaviours were maintained when gras** both physical and virtual stimuli.
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Data availability
The datasets generated and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Funding
This research was supported by a University of Manitoba Graduate Fellowship (UMGF) held by R.W.L. and a grant from the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC; Grant Number RGPIN 04964-18) held by J.J.M.
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All authors contributed to methodology. Conceptualization, formal analysis, investigation and writing—original draft by RWL. Funding acquisition, project administration, resources, supervision and writing—review and editing by JJM. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Langridge, R.W., Marotta, J.J. Manipulation of physical 3-D and virtual 2-D stimuli: comparing digit placement and fixation position. Exp Brain Res 239, 1863–1875 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-021-06101-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-021-06101-z