The effect of visual transformation on implicitly and explicitly timed bimanual drawing tasks

Abstract

Mirror drawing is a challenging task because appropriate hand actions must be planned and directed despite receiving visual feedback that is reversed by the mirror. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether visual transformation impacts the timing and spatial variability of explicitly and implicitly timed bimanual drawing tasks differently. To examine these issues, ten healthy participants bimanually drew various template shapes (circles, lines, vertical triangles and horizontal triangles) under normal (untransformed) and mirror-reflected vision conditions. Drawing movements were paced by a metronome and all templates were drawn in both symmetrical and asymmetrical coordination modes. Our results show that mirror feedback increased timing errors on implicit timing tasks but not explicit timing tasks. Mirror feedback also resulted in greater spatial variability and decreased interlimb coordination. These results provide insight into the role of visual information in the timing and performance of different types of bimanual drawing tasks.