Organization of arm movements in three-dimensional space. Wrist motion is piecewise planar.

It is shown that human subjects are incapable of producing with the arm, in free space, planned or extemporaneously drawn trajectories in which the plane of wrist motion changes smoothly or continuously. The three-dimensional nature of these movements results from the fact that the plane of motion changes abruptly from one segment of the trajectory to the next, being confined to one plane during each segment (i.e. piecewise planar).