The influence of the Sander parallelogram illusion and early, middle and late vision on goal-directed reaching and grasping

Abstract

Vision is one of the most robust sensory inputs used for the execution of goal-directed actions. Despite a history of extensive visuomotor research, how individuals process visual context for the execution of movements continues to be debated. This experiment examines how early, middle and late visuomotor control is impacted by illusory characteristics in a reaching and grasping task. Participants either manually estimated or reached out and picked up a three-dimensional target bar resting on a two-dimensional picture of the Sander parallelogram illusion. Participants performed their grasps within a predefined time movement window based on their own average grasp time, allowing for the manipulation of visual feedback. On some trials, vision was only available before the response cue (an auditory tone), while on others vision was occluded until the response cue, becoming available for either the full, early, middle or late portions of the movement. While results showed that the effect of the illusion was stronger on manual estimations than on grasping, maximum grip apertures in the occluded vision and early vision grasping conditions were also consistent to a lesser extent with the illusion. The late vision condition showed longer movement time, wrist deceleration period, time to maximum grip aperture and lower maximum velocity. These findings indicate that visual context affects visuomotor control distinctly depending on when vision is available, and supports the notion that human vision is comprised of two functionally and anatomically distinct systems.