The Mirror Drawing experiment is a psychological test that was originally designed by psychologists to study motor learning and hand-eye coordination. In this experiment, participants are asked to draw an image or figure while looking at their hand movements through a mirror. The challenge is that the reflection in the mirror reverses the hand movements, requiring the participant to adjust and adapt to the new coordination.
Procedure:
The participant is given a drawing task, typically of a simple geometric figure or a star, but with the condition that they only see their drawing through a mirror. The mirror creates a reversed image, making the task more challenging than if they were drawing without the mirror.
Objective:
The primary objective is to study the effects of visual feedback and how individuals adapt to the reversed image. The task requires the brain to re-learn motor coordination in response to visual discrepancies.
Results:
Initially, the participants show significant difficulty in drawing the correct figure. However, with practice, most participants improve their ability to draw the figure accurately, demonstrating learning and adaptation.
Conclusion:
The Mirror Drawing experiment demonstrates the brain's capacity for adapting to new visual-motor feedback. It also highlights the process of motor learning and the plasticity of the human brain in adjusting to sensory distortions.