Effect of Object and Task Properties on Bimanual Transport

The use of both hands simultaneously when manipulating objects is fairly commonplace, but it is not known what factors encourage people to use two hands as opposed to one during simple tasks such as transport. In particular, we are interested in three possible transport strategies: unimanual transpo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of motor behavior 2019-05, Vol.51 (3), p.245-258
Main Authors: Nakamura, Yuzuko C., O'Sullivan, Carol A., Pollard, Nancy S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
arm movements
bimanual performance
Biomechanical Phenomena - physiology
Female
Functional Laterality - physiology
grasping
Hand - physiology
Hand Strength - physiology
Hands
Humans
Male
motion planning
Motor ability
Psychomotor Performance - physiology
Rotation
Young Adult
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Summary:The use of both hands simultaneously when manipulating objects is fairly commonplace, but it is not known what factors encourage people to use two hands as opposed to one during simple tasks such as transport. In particular, we are interested in three possible transport strategies: unimanual transport, handing off between hands, and symmetric bimanual transport. In this study, we investigate the effect of object size, weight, and starting and ending position (configuration) as well as the need to balance the object on the use of these three strategies in a bowl-moving task. We find that configuration and balance have a strong effect on choice of strategy, and size and weight have a weaker effect. Hand-offs are most often used when the task requires moving an object from left to right and vice versa, while the unimanual strategy was frequently used when passing front to back. The bimanual strategy is only weakly affected by configuration. The need to balance an object causes subjects to favor unimanual and bimanual strategies over the hand-off. In addition, an analysis of transport duration and body rotation suggests that strategy choice may be driven by the desire to minimize body rotation.
ISSN:0022-2895
1940-1027
DOI:10.1080/00222895.2018.1465391