Vision and Kinesthesis in Accuracy of Hand Movement

Two experiments examined the accuracy with which college students were able to touch a target when knowledge of the target location had been gained either visually, kinesthetically, or by both modalities. In all but “baseline” trials, individuals were not allowed to guide the hand visually and so relied on kinesthetic cues during movement to the target location. No feedback was provided. Contrary to students' expectations, accuracy of the movements was greater when the target location had been given kinesthetically (passive movement to the target) as opposed to visually. When target location was provided by seeing one's hand move to the target (kinesthetic plus visual), performance was slightly poorer (though nonsignificantly) than for the purely kinesthetic condition, but significantly better than for a purely visual target condition. These results are discussed in terms of visual dominance and the roles of vision and kinesthesis in guiding normal hand movements.