The contribution of coordinated eye and head movements in hand pointing accuracy

Summary The accuracy of pointing movements of the hand, directed at visual targets 10° to 40° from the midline, was measured in normal human subjects. No visual feedback from the moving hand was available to the subjects. The head could be either maintained stationary (head-fixed condition) or free to move (head-free condition) during the pointing movements. It was found that the error in pointing was reduced for all targets in the head-free condition. This reduction was more important for the more eccentric target (40°). Improvement in accuracy was observed without any significant change in either the latency or the duration of eye, head or hand movements. In the head-free condition, it was found that the head was displaced in the direction of the target by an amount representing no more than 2/3 of the target amplitude. The improvement in accuracy was not influenced by the amplitude of the head movement. A model is proposed which shows how coordinated eye and head movements could improve the encoding of target position.Work supported by INSERM-Unité 94