On The Role Of Physical Interaction On Performance Of Object Manipulation By Dyads

Keywords

Coordination; Interpersonal action; Object manipulation; Physical interaction; Social interaction

Abstract

Human physical interactions can be intrapersonal, e.g., manipulating an object bimanually, or interpersonal, e.g., transporting an object with another person. In both cases, one or two agents are required to coordinate their limbs to attain the task goal. We investigated the physical coordination of two hands during an object-balancing task performed either bimanually by one agent or jointly by two agents. The task consisted of a series of static (holding) and dynamic (moving) phases, initiated by auditory cues. We found that task performance of dyads was not affected by different pairings of dominant and non-dominant hands. However, the spatial configuration of the two agents (side-by-side vs. face-to-face) appears to play an important role, such that dyads performed better side-by-side than face-to-face. Furthermore, we demonstrated that only individuals with worse solo performance can benefit from interpersonal coordination through physical couplings, whereas the better individuals do not. The present work extends ongoing investigations on human-human physical interactions by providing new insights about factors that influence dyadic performance. Our findings could potentially impact several areas, including robotic-assisted therapies, sensorimotor learning and human performance augmentation.

Publication Date

11-7-2017

Publication Title

Frontiers in Human Neuroscience

Volume

11

Document Type

Article

Personal Identifier

scopus

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2017.00533

Socpus ID

85041014827 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/85041014827

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