Immediate versus Prolonged Visual Exposure and Object Relevancy in a Reaching and Placing Task

Abstract

This study investigated whether prolonged exposure of objects with varying levels of meaning changes the quality of movement based upon the length of time the object is viewed. Fifty-nine male and female volunteers aged 18 to 45 years participated in this study that involved reaching for and placing a cup or a clay mass in an immediate or a prolonged exposure condition. It was hypothesized that better performance would occur when reaching for the cup than when reaching for the mold of clay. Additionally, there would be a difference in performance depending on whether participants experience the immediate or prolonged exposure of the objects. The results showed that movement time was significantly shorter and there were fewer movement units during the prolonged condition. There were also significant interactions between visual exposure and object relevancy for both percentage of movement time to peak velocity and average velocity. Conversely, there were no differences between the two objects for any of the dependent variables. This study suggests that if a person is allowed prolonged visual exposure to an object in a reaching and placing task his or her movement will be more efficient. This implies that occupational therapists should implement functional tasks and allow adequate time for the person to visually process occupational forms in order to facilitate enhanced quality of movement.