Skip to main content
Log in

The effects of task and content on digit placement on a bottle

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Experimental Brain Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In addition to hand shaping, previous studies have shown that subjects adapt placement of individual digits to object properties such as its weight and center of mass. However, the extent to which digit placement varies based on task context is unknown. In the present study, we investigated where subjects place their digits on a bottle when the upcoming task (lift versus pour) and object content (i.e., amount of liquid: empty, half, and full) were manipulated. Our results showed that subjects anticipated both the upcoming task and content by varying digit placement when grasping the bottle prior to the onset of manipulation. Specifically, subjects increased the vertical distance between the thumb and index finger for pouring but not for lifting. This larger moment arm might have been established to decrease the amount of force required to tilt the bottle. Content also affected digit placement: the digits were placed higher and were wrapped more around the bottle with increasing content. This strategy may maximize grip surface contact, and hence grasp stability. These findings extend previous research showing that grasp planning not only takes place at a macroscopic level (whole-hand position relative to an object), but also at the level of individual digit placement. This finer level of control appears to be sensitive to the expected mechanical properties of the object and how these may affect grasp stability throughout the upcoming manipulation.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ansuini C, Santello M, Massaccesi S, Castiello U (2006) Effects of end-goal on hand shaping. J Neurophysiol 95:2456–2465

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ansuini C, Giosa L, Turella L, Altoè G, Castiello U (2008) An object for an action, the same object for other actions: effects on hand shaping. Exp Brain Res 185:111–119

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen RG, Rosenbaum DA (2004) Where grasps are made reveals how grasps are planned: generation and recall of motor plans. Exp Brain Res 157(4):486–495

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Crajé C, Van der Kamp J, Steenbergen B (2008) The effect of the ‘rod-and-frame’ illusion on grip planning in a sequential object manipulation task. Exp Brain Res 185(1):54–64

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Easthough D, Edwards MG (2007) Movement kinematics in prehension are affected by grasping objects of different mass. Exp Brain Res 10(6):193–198

    Google Scholar 

  • Fu Q, Zhang W, Santello M (2010) Anticipatory planning and control of grasp positions and forces for dexterous two-digit manipulations. J Neurosci 30(27):9117–9126

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jeannerod M (1981) Intersegmental coordination during reaching at natural visual objects. In: Long J, Baddeley A (eds) Attention and performance IX. Erlbaum, Hillsdale, pp 153–168

    Google Scholar 

  • Kinoshita H, Kawai S, Ikuta K (1995) Contributions and coordination of individual fingers in multiple finger prehension. Ergonomics 38(6):1212–1230

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lukos J, Ansuini C, Santello M (2007) Choice of contact points during multidigit grasping: effect of predictability of object center of mass location. J Neurosci 27(4):3894–3903

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lukos J, Ansuini C, Santello M (2008) Anticipatory control of grasping: independence of sensorimotor memories for kinematics and kinetics. J Neurosci 28(48):12765–12774

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Marteniuk RG, MacKenzie CL, Jeannerod M (1987) Constraints on human arm movement trajectories. Can J Psychol 41:365–378

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mason CR, Gomez JE, Ebner TJ (2001) Hand synergies during reach-to-grasp. J Neurophysiol 86:2896–2910

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rosenbaum DA, Jorgensen MJ (1992) Planning macroscopic aspects of manual control. Hum Movement Sci 11:61–69

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rosenbaum DA, van Heugten CM, Caldwell GE (1996) From cognition to biomechanics and back: The end-state comfort effect and the middle-is-faster effect. Acta Psychol 94:59–85

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Santello M, Soechting JF (1998) Gradual molding of the hand to object contours. J Neurophysiol 7:1307–1320

    Google Scholar 

  • Santello M, Soechting JF (2000) Force synergies for multifingered grasping. Exp Brain Res 133:457–467

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Smeets JBJ, Brenner E (1999) A new view on grasping. Mot Control 3(3):237–271

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Steenbergen B, Marteniuk RG, Kalbfleisch LE (1995) Achieving coordination in prehension: joint freezing and postural contributions. J Motor Behav 27:333–348

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sun Y, Zatsiorsky VM, Latash ML (2011) Prehension of half-full and half-empty glasses: time and history effects on multi-digit coordination. Exp Brain Res 209(4):571–585

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang W, Gordon AM, Fu Q, Santello M (2010) Manipulation after object rotation reveals independent sensorimotor memory representations of digit positions and forces. J Neurophysiol 103:1953–1964

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. Thanassis Rikakis, Todd Ingalls, Jodi James, and Siew Wong from Arts, Media, and Engineering, Arizona State University, for use of their facilities, technical support, data collection, and processing. We thank Dr. Terry Kaminski for his comments on a previous version of this manuscript. This publication was made possible by a Collaborative Research Grant BCS-0819547 from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of NSF.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Céline Crajé.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Crajé, C., Lukos, J.R., Ansuini, C. et al. The effects of task and content on digit placement on a bottle. Exp Brain Res 212, 119–124 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-011-2704-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-011-2704-1

Keywords

Navigation