title: Anticipatory action planning in blind and sighted individuals.
abstract: Several studies on visually guided reach-to-grasp movements have documented that how objects are grasped differs depending on the actions one intends to perform subsequently. However, no previous study has examined whether this differential grasping may also occur without visual input. In this study, we used motion capture technology to investigate the influence of visual feedback and prior visual experience on the modulation of kinematics by intention in sighted (in both full-vision and no-vision conditions), early-blind and late-blind participants. Results provide evidence of modulation of kinematics by intention to a similar degree under both full-vision and no-vision conditions. Moreover, they demonstrate that prior visual experience has little impact on the tailoring of grasping movements to intention. This suggests that sequential action planning does not depend on visual input, and may instead be ascribed to the function of multisensory-motor cortical network that operates and develops not only in light, but also in darkness.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Italy.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cavallo
authors.affiliation: Cognition, Motion and Neuroscience Unit, Fondazione Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy.
authors.forename: Caterina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ansuini
authors.affiliation: Unit for Visually Impaired People, Fondazione Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy.
authors.forename: Monica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gori
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Italy.
authors.forename: Carla
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tinti
authors.affiliation: Unit for Visually Impaired People, Fondazione Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy.
authors.forename: Alessia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tonelli
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Italy.|Cognition, Motion and Neuroscience Unit, Fondazione Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy.
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Becchio
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D005260:Female; D006225:Hand / Q000502:physiology; D018737:Hand Strength / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D014785:Vision, Ocular / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology; D019987:Persons with Visual Disabilities