Dart Throwing with the Open and Closed Eyes: Kinematic Analysis

Abstract

Eye-hand coordination during dart throwing includes both the sensory and motor components, as well as cognitive variables, for example, the direction of the subject’s attention to the target or to the hand kinematic. In the present study, subjects performed dart throws in the eyes-open and eyes-closed conditions with simultaneous recording of the kinematics of the throwing hand. The results showed that the position of the hand in its raising phase was closer to the torso when performing more accurate throws with the eyes-open condition compared to more peripheral throws and throws performed in the eyes-closed condition. Following the dart release, the position of the hand in the eyes-open condition was lower compared to the eyes-closed condition. Additionally, in the eyes-closed condition, raising the hand in its backward moving phase negatively predicts the throwing accuracy. Thus, the early phase of the movement is associated with attention, and the final phase is associated with the visual feedback about the throwing accuracy. Raising the hand in the eyes-closed condition reflects an increase in muscle tension, which leads to a decrease in the accuracy of movement. The results of the study can be applied in sports and in the treatment of hand-eye-coordination disorders.

Motor Program Transformation of Throwing Dart from the Third-Person Perspective

“…However, in the current experiment, we found smaller hand amplitude and velocity along the vertical axis in 3PP condition. A similar effect was found in our previous study [36] in the eyes-closed condition. In the current experiment in the follow-through period subject's attention was rather directed to target for assessing the throw accuracy, than to the fallen hand.…”

“…For each condition, the maximum velocity of the hand was identified along the OY axis, that is, perpendicular to the axis of the body and in the direction of the throw. This parameter was chosen because it had a clearly defined peak, which reflects the event of releasing a dart [36]. Other researchers describe the difference in peak velocity and dart release at 2-11 ms [37], which corresponds to about 1 frame of a mocap suit recording.…”

Factors Associated with Impaired Motor Skills in Strabismic and Anisometropic Children

“…Aiming requires visual input for planning the throw and some visual feedback about the position of the arm and hand during the throw. 44 Catching is an interceptive task that requires sophisticated spatiotemporal coordination of the arm and hand motion with target motion to reach the interception point at an appropriate time and configuration for grasping, and then tightening the hand's grip. 45 Control of the grasping movement may be the most important indicator of catching performance, 46 with poorer catching in stereodeficient individuals being due to less hand closure and lower peak closing hand velocity when grasping a ball.…”