Temporal differences in eye-hand coordination between children and adults during manual action on objects.

Background/objective: Eye-hand coordination, which is essential for activities of daily living, develops with age. The objective of this study was to investigate the temporal patterns of visual fixation coupled with hands during manual action on objects in children and young adults.

Methods: Twelve eight-year-old children and 12 young adults performed the Jebsen-Taylor Hand Function Test (JTT) wearing eye-tracking glasses. The interval from the eye arrival time to the hand arrival time on an object was measured as eye-hand arrival span. The interval between the eye departure time and the hand departure time from the object was measured as eye-hand departure span. Eye-hand arrival span, eye-hand departure span and the performance time to complete the JTT were compared between children and young adults. Correlation between eye-hand arrival span and eye-hand departure span was analysed to identify the mechanism of eye-hand coordination.

Results: Compared with young adults, children showed longer performance time but shorter eye-hand arrival span and eye-hand departure span in the JTT. The difference in mean eye-hand arrival span of overall JTT between children and young adults was significant for both hands, whereas differences in the mean eye-hand departure span on the overall JTT and the total performance time were significant for the non-dominant hand. The eye-hand arrival span was positively correlated with the eye-hand departure span.

Conclusion: This study demonstrated temporal differences in eye-hand coordination between children and young adults. Temporal patterns of visual fixation coupled to object manipulation could be useful information about the sensorimotor system in the field of occupational therapy.