Distance and Location Cues in Movement

Abstract

Schwartz (1984) in his commentary on our article concluded that the authors had "... not provided reliable and valid evidence to justify conclusions at this juncture." These conclusions were (1) that the target point of the movement was the most important cue for movement accuracy, and (2) that rapid movements produce greater errors in direction than do slow movements. We would first like to address Schwartz'S criticisms and then point out why, from a motor control theoretical standpoint, the endpoint or location point of a movement is essential.Schwartz brought up a number of criticisms of our article. Some of these criticisms we consider valid, have relevance to our conclusions, and therefore need to be addressed in detail. Two other criticisms were minor and have little bearing on the outcome of our study. We will address these minor criticisms first. One minor criticism concerned the operational definition of starting point and endpoint. We feel that not only are starting