Reaching and grasping actions are based on anticipatory
planning skills, which can be readily observed when people manipulate objects (Rosenbaum,
Chapman, Weigelt, Weiss, & Van der Wel, 2012). A
standard example is the over-turned glass task: People
will pick up an inverted glass from the kitchen shelf
using an awkward thumb-down grasp, in order to hold
the glass comfortably with a thumb-up grasp, when
pouring water into it. In doing so, they sacrifice initialstate
comfort for end-state comfort (ESC). The tendency
to avoid uncomfortable body postures at the final
part of a movement has been termed the ESC effect by
Rosenbaum et al. (1990). In sports, it can be observed,
e.g., when gymnasts perform a routine on the parallel
bar and adjust the grip to avoid hand, arm, and shoulder
injuries during the execution of an element.
