Inhibition of Reach Plan on Goal Object Offset

Previous research has shown that object’s orientation facilitates responses of the hand that is compatible with the orientation. We explored how this object-orientation effect couples with reach planning and control. Experiment 1 used left-right orientated cylinders as stimuli. The orientation of these cylinders was observed to lead to more accurate responses of the orientation compatible hand. When the object disappeared on reach initiation, the reaching of the orientation compatible hand was inhibited. Experiment 2 replicated Experiment 1 with left-right orientated mugs. These objects evoked the typical object-orientation effect in reaction times and accuracy but reach control was not affected. This study suggests that a sudden interruption in the transmission of visual inputs for updating the motor program leads to inhibition of the program. However, this motor control effect depends on whether the motor plan is extracted from visual or visual-semantic object affordance.