Motor skills with the altered visual feedback

A method to measure the influence of the visual feedback on motor performances of humans is described here. The modified Bender-Gestalt psychological test in preschool children was chosen to demonstrate the method. Children were shown five cards, each containing a distinct drawing, and asked to draw what they see at the paper (regular test-RT). Then they were asked to copy the same forms while watching the drawing at the monitor (computer test-CT). In this case the visual feedback was altered, and children could not see their arm and hand while drawing. Motor performances were scored using the following elements: (1) angles; (2) orientation; and (3) mutual position of drawn elements. Results show that the performance dropped for 33% at the CT compared to the RT. The scores based only on the drawn angles dropped for 33%, the scores for orientation for 18%, and the scores based on the mutual position for 45%.