Vision and touch used for catching small balls with a power grip and large balls with a precision grip supports dual visuomotor channel theory

The dual visuomotor channel theory of grasping posits that distinct neural pathways mediate hand shaping in response to a target’s extrinsic (e.g., location) and intrinsic (e.g., size and shape) properties. To evaluate this theory, we examined grasp behavior in human participants as they caught balls of four diameters (2.5–9 cm) thrown toward them. Hand shaping during catching was compared with that observed during the pickup of stationary balls and the interception of rolling balls. Kinematic measures included digit opposition distance (thumb pad to index finger pad) and prehension span (digit pad to palm distance), obtained using electromagnetic sensors, 3D video capture, and frame-by-frame video analysis. Participants displayed significantly greater hand opening when catching thrown balls than when interacting with static or rolling balls. Nonetheless, the maximum pregrasp aperture (MPA), contact grasp aperture (CGA), and terminal grasp aperture (TGA) scaled proportionally with ball size across all conditions. Ball size further influenced grasp type: small thrown balls were caught with power grips, while larger balls were caught with precision grips. In contrast, precision grips were used consistently when picking up stationary balls or grasping intercepting rolling ones. In the catching condition, grasp type and the trajectory of digit closure were also affected by the location of ball to hand contact. These findings support the dual visuomotor channel theory by demonstrating that anticipatory hand opening reflects target location, whereas grip selection reflects target size. Moreover, the modulation of grasp type and digit closure by tactile contact suggests that somatosensory input may operate within a dual-channel framework analogous to that of vision.