Contribution of binocular vision to motor skill development and performance

手工灵巧或用手进行熟练的动作是人类进化的标志之一，也是感觉运动发展的巅峰。Vision为指导和协调相对简单的技能的执行提供了重要的输入，例如做早上的咖啡，以及执行外科手术所涉及的令人难以置信的具有挑战性的技能。直观地说，人们可以预测，双目视觉对这些技能的表现肯定是至关重要的。然而，我们对这种输入在开发和控制复杂操作任务中的作用的理解仍然有限。具体地说，到目前为止，还没有研究考察学龄儿童双眼视觉功能和精细运动技能的发展。相反，在成人中进行的研究为双眼视觉在执行简单的抓取任务中的作用提供了混合的证据。因此，拟议的研究计划的长期目标是确定双目视觉在与3D环境中的对象交互时对运动技能学习和表现的贡献。这项拟议研究的第一个目标是评估双眼视觉功能发展和精细运动技能之间的联系。据推测，儿童运动技能的提高依赖于双眼视觉功能的成熟。稍后的工作将集中在成年人身上，实验旨在操纵双目视觉和触觉(触摸)信息，以便我们能够梳理出有助于操纵技能的最佳表现和学习的关键变量。假设双眼视差有助于物体特征的加工，从而在物体操纵过程中产生更有效的控制策略。然而，在没有双眼视差的情况下，这种控制被打乱，因为受试者必须依赖触觉反馈。预计拟议的研究计划将确定正常双眼视觉在儿童运动技能获得中的作用。有必要了解有助于获得最佳精细运动技能的潜在因素，因为在灵巧任务上的表现是学龄儿童学习成绩的有力预测因素。这项拟议的研究还将促进我们对3D空间中与物体互动时上肢运动的中枢神经系统控制的了解。了解双眼视差和视觉-触觉整合的贡献很重要，因为许多职业活动都需要熟练的运动能力。因此，这项研究最终也将对制定双目视觉要求的职业标准产生影响，这些职业需要精确地执行熟练的动作，例如外科、牙科和工业。

Manual dexterity or performance of skillful movements with our hands is one of the hallmarks of human evolution and a pinnacle of sensorimotor development. Vision provides important input for guiding and coordinating the execution of relatively simple skills, such as making your morning cup of coffee, as well as incredibly challenging skills involved in performing a surgical procedure. Intuitively, one could predict that binocular vision must be fundamentally important for the performance of these skills. However, our understanding of the role of this input during development and in the control of complex manipulation tasks remains limited. Specifically, no studies to date have examined the development of binocular visual functions and fine motor skills in school-aged children. Conversely, research conducted with adults provided mixed evidence for the role of binocular vision during execution of simple prehension tasks. Thus, the long term goal of the proposed research program is to establish the contribution of binocular vision to motor skill learning and performance when interacting with objects in a 3D environment. The first objective of the proposed research is to assess the association between the development of binocular visual functions and fine motor skills. It is hypothesized that improvements in motor skill performance in children are dependent on the maturation of the binocular visual functions. Later work will focus on the adults and the experiments are designed to manipulate binocular vision and haptic (touch) information such that we can tease out the critical variables contributing to the optimal performance and learning of manipulation skills. It is hypothesized that binocular disparity facilitates the processing of object features which leads to more effective control strategies during object manipulation. Whereas in the absence of binocular disparity this control is disrupted as subjects must rely on haptic feedback. It is anticipated that the proposed research program will establish the role of normal binocular vision in motor skill acquisition in children. It is necessary to have an understanding of the underlying factors contributing to optimal acquisition of fine motor skills because performance on dexterity tasks is a strong predictor of academic achievement in school-aged children. The proposed research will also advance our knowledge about the CNS control of upper limb movements while interacting with objects in 3D space. Is it important to understand the contribution of binocular disparity and visual-haptic integration because skilled motor performance is required in many occupational activities. Thus, ultimately, this research will also have implications for developing occupational standards for binocular vision requirements for professions that require precise execution of skilful movements, for example, surgery, dentistry and industry.