0000000000787745

AUTHOR

Alan M. Wing

Grip force regulates hand impedance to optimize object stability in high impact loads

Anticipatory grip force adjustments are a prime example of the predictive nature of motor control. An object held in precision grip is stabilized by fine adjustments of the grip force against changes in tangential load force arising from inertia during acceleration and deceleration. When an object is subject to sudden impact loads, prediction becomes critical as the time available for sensory feedback is very short. Here, we investigated the control of grip force when participants performed a targeted tapping task with a hand-held object. During the initial transport phase of the movement, load force varied smoothly with acceleration. In contrast, in the collision, load forces sharply incre…

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''Active Collisions in Altered Gravity Reveal Eye-Hand Coordination Strategies''

White, Olivier | Lefevre, Philippe | Wing, Alan M. | Bracewell, R. Martyn | Thonnard, Jean-Louis; International audience; ''Most object manipulation tasks involve a series of actions demarcated by mechanical contact events, and gaze is usually directed to the locations of these events as the task unfolds. Typically, gaze foveates the target 200 ms in advance of the contact. This strategy improves manual accuracy through visual feedback and the use of gaze-related signals to guide the hand/ object. Many studies have investigated eye-hand coordination in experimental and natural tasks; most of them highlighted a strong link between eye movements and hand or object kinematics. In this experime…

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