If someone throws a ball at you, are you likely to catch or miss it? Your ability to respond to visual cues around you and react with your hands is called hand-eye coordination. While that ability is not always so reactive, as in the case of catching a ball, it certainly influences how you type, drive, play golf, or cut up ingredients for a meal.

This essential trait is one you can develop, but to some degree, it's also influenced by genetics. AncestryDNA^® + Traits can help you discover whether you have any genetic markers known to influence hand-eye coordination.

What Is Hand and Eye Coordination?

Hand-eye coordination, sometimes referred to as eye-hand coordination or eye-to-hand coordination, helps you navigate the world around you. The definition of hand-eye coordination is the way your sight and hands work together to do tasks that require speed and accuracy. It's your ability to coordinate the information you get from your eyes with the movements of your hands and arms, and it influences how you react to the world around you. From catching something someone tosses at you to steering your car around a pothole, this physical trait is often accompanied by quick reflexes and balance.

Your hand-eye coordination plays a role in many aspects of life, including hobbies, sport, and work. If you play an instrument, your hand-eye coordination lets you read the music while translating it into hand movements to produce a song. It's necessary in sport techniques, such as swinging a tennis racquet and being able to make contact with the ball. At work, your hand-eye coordination might influence how well you type.

Genetic Factors and Hand-Eye Coordination

Ancestry^® scientists investigated the genes involved in hand-eye coordination using survey responses from over 204,000 people who answered the question, "How would you rate your hand-eye coordination?" The survey asked takers to consider, for example, how well they can throw and catch a ball or play an instrument while reading music. Based on the results and genetic analysis, the Ancestry scientists found more than 480 DNA markers connected to hand-eye coordination.

The AncestryDNA^® team went on to build a polygenic risk score, a tool used to predict from your DNA whether you’re likely to inherit a specific trait. Based on that score, the scientists found that DNA plays a small role in hand-eye coordination—that genetic differences between people can only explain around 6% of the variation we see in hand-eye coordination. As such, your hand-eye coordination is primarily environmental, influenced by factors such as how often you practise it.

What Else Impacts Hand and Eye Coordination?

Hand-eye coordination begins developing in infancy. One factor that appears to influence it is whether a child consumes breast milk. A study performed in 2012 reviewed the effects of adding specific components of breast milk to the formula of bottle-fed babies. The babies who got the supplementation scored higher for hand and eye coordination, matching the scores of babies who were exclusively breastfed.

Regular physical activity also appears to influence hand-eye coordination. In a study of Romanian students ages 14 and 15, students who practised performance sport had significantly better reaction speed and hand-eye coordination than those who didn't play sport at all.

Eventually, age can cause a decline in hand-eye coordination because the neuromuscular communication necessary for it begins to weaken. Age-related changes in visual perception can also impact how well you can coordinate your hands and eyes.

Insights on Ways to Improve Hand-Eye Coordination

If your hand-eye coordination isn't the best, there's good news—this trait is one you can develop over time. Several activities can help you improve your hand-eye coordination. The more you practise any of them, the more likely you are to sharpen this skill.

• Racquet sports, such as tennis and pickleball, require the ability to track the ball and the coordination to hit it back to your opponent. But for these activities, you’ll also need to develop a quick reaction time.
• For more low-impact exercises, both sitting Tai chi and swimming have been identified as strategies for senior populations to improve their hand-eye coordination. Tai chi can also improve reflexes, strength, flexibility, balance, and range of motion.
• Playing action-based video games is associated with better hand-eye coordination, according to a study from the University of Toronto.
• And creating art, bouncing or juggling a ball, playing an instrument, and sewing can also help support the development of hand-eye coordination over time.

Wondering just how much of your coordination or lack thereof comes from your genetics? An AncestryDNA^® + Traits test can tell you whether you’re more or less likely to have good hand-eye coordination, as well as numerous other performance-related traits. Have you already taken an AncestryDNA test? If so, then your results are now available to view with an Ancestry^® membership.

 

References

Godman, Heidi. "Activities to sharpen your eye‑hand coordination." Harvard Health Publishing. September 1, 2021. https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/activities-to-sharpen-your-eyehand-coordination.

Gozli, Davood G., Daphne Bavelier, Jay Pratt. "The effect of action video game playing on sensorimotor learning: Evidence from a movement tracking task." Human Movement Science. December 2014. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.humov.2014.09.004.

Gurnida, Dida A., Angela M. Rowan, et al. "Association of complex lipids containing gangliosides with cognitive development of 6-month-old infants." Early Human Development. January 29, 2012. doi:10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2012.01.003.

Hsu, H-C, S-W Chou, et al. "Effects of swimming on eye hand coordination and balance in the elderly." The Journal of Nutrition, Health & Aging. October 2010. doi:10.1007/s12603-010-0134-6.

Lee, Ken Y T, Christina W Y Hui-Chan, William W N Tsang. "The effects of practicing sitting Tai Chi on balance control and eye-hand coordination in the older adults: a randomized controlled trial." Disability and rehabilitation. July 25, 2014. doi:10.3109/09638288.2014.942003.

Pointer, Kathleen. "Can I Improve My Hand-Eye Coordination?" Healthline. December 19, 2016. https://www.healthline.com/health/hand-eye-coordination.

Szabo, Dan Alexandru, Nicolae Neagu, et al. "Study on the Influence of Proprioceptive Control versus Visual Control on Reaction Speed, Hand Coordination, and Lower Limb Balance in Young Students 14-15 Years Old." International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. October 1, 2021. doi:10.3390/ijerph181910356.