Impact of simulated target blur on the preparation and execution of aiming movements

ABSTRACT While visual information directly influences the preparation and control of aiming movements, less is known about the influence of a degraded visual context such as target blur. Participants aimed as quickly and accurately as possible within a virtual aiming environment to clear or blurred targets using a stylus on a digitizing board. Findings showed a more prolonged time to initiate movements for blurred compared to clear targets, but no influence for movement time, or end-point accuracy and precision. The adaptation in movement preparation may reflect an initial uncertainty surrounding the visual context; namely, the visual target characteristics that are typically needed to avoid any error. Meanwhile, the absence of any influence within movement reflects the processing of the coarse and dynamic visual characteristics of the limb, which was independent of the degraded visual context of the target. These findings may contribute further insights toward low vision and possible functional adaptations.