Vision and Proprioception in Simple Catching

Abstract

Articular proprioception is normally considered to provide accurate information about limb position, particularly in ball skills in which the eyes are thought to be occupied with tracking the ball. If this is so, then preventing sight of the catching hand without interfering with visual tracking of the ball should not affect the accuracy of catching. The experiment reported here indicates that this is not the case. Catching is much less accurate if the hand cannot be seen. The errors made are in positioning of the catching hand, which frequently does not contact the ball. In addition, subjects showed larger changes in the felt length of their arms after catching without sight of the hand than did those who could see their hand while catching. Visual information about the position of the hand is important for catching, and this may be because the proprioceptive system is calibrated by vision.