The influence of stimulus color on the control of reaching-grasping movements

This kinematic study aimed to determine whether color is a stimulus property involved in the control of reaching-grasping movements. Subjects reached and grasped a target-object, located either on the right or on the left of the subject’s midline. A distractor, placed along the subject’s midline, could be randomly presented. The colors, i.e., both chromaticity (red and green stimuli were presented) and lightness, of the target and distractor were varied in experiment 1. Only stimulus lightness and only stimulus chromaticity were varied in experiments 2 and 3, respectively. In experiment 4 subjects matched with their thumb and index finger the size of the target-stimuli presented in experiment 1. Chromaticity (experiments 1 and 3) of the target and distractor influenced grasp, but not reach. Maximal finger aperture was larger during grasping the red than the green target. Data collected in the matching task (experiment 4) confirmed a trend to overestimate the red target and to underestimate the green one. During grasp, hand shaping was influenced by distractor chromaticity when it was different from target chromaticity. Distractor lightness affected reach, but not grasp (experiments 1 and 2). Reach was slower when the distractor was lighter and arm trajectory veered away from it. The results of the present study suggest that color, that is the ensemble of chromaticity and lightness, is a stimulus property involved in the control of reaching-grasping. The different effects of target color on reach and grasp support the notion that intrinsic object properties, such as color, affect grasp more than reach. In addition, the different effects of distractor chromaticity and lightness on reach and grasp confirm that target-objects are visually extracted from surrounding cues by means of different processes, according to the required motor response.