Response Modes Influence the Accuracy of Monocular and Binocular Reaching Movements

The authors manipulated the availability of monocular and binocular vision during the constituent planning and control stages of a goal-directed reaching task. Furthermore, trials were completed with or without online limb vision to determine whether monocular- or binocular-derived ego-motion cues influence the integration of visual feedback for online limb corrections. Results showed that the manipulation of visual cues during movement planning did not influence planning times or overall kinematics. During movement execution, however, binocular reaches—and particularly those completed with online limb vision—demonstrated heightened endpoint accuracy and stability, a finding directly linked to the adoption of a feedback-based mode of reaching control (i.e., online control). In contrast, reaches performed with online monocular vision produced increased endpoint error and instability and demonstrated reduced evidence of feedback-based corrections (i.e., offline control). Based on these results, the authors propose that the combination of static (i.e., target location) and dynamic (i.e., the moving limb) binocular cues serve to specifically optimize online reaching control. Moreover, results provide new evidence that differences in the kinematic and endpoint parameters of binocular and monocular reaches reflect differences in the extent to which the aforementioned engage in online and offline modes of movement control.