Manual Asymmetry of the Relationship Between Velocity and Accuracy on Reciprocal Hand Movements Under the Viscous Force Fields

Abstract

The trade-off relationship between speed and accuracy has been well known in many types of motor tasks. An error of a movement increases as the speed of the movement. Previous investigation by computer simulation suggested that negative viscous blocks the trade-off relationship. In this study, actual human movements on viscous fields were measured to investigate the effect of viscous on the relationship between speed and accuracy. A reciprocal hand movement specified some accuracy and amplitude of the movement was examined. Main findings of this study were as follows: (1) The speed accuracy trade-off is also applied to the reciprocal movement on the negative viscous field, (2) movement variability of the non-dominant hand is larger than the other hand, (3) the dominant hand well exploits the dynamics condition according to a motor task than the other hand, (4) participants can produce faster movements on the positive viscous force field, and (5) the slope of the regression line based on the Fitts’ law implies adaptation and prehension to the dynamics of the current working space.