Experiencing a reaching task passively with one arm while adapting to a visuomotor rotation with the other can lead to substantial transfer of motor learning across the arms

Publication date: 18 January 2017 Source:Neuroscience Letters, Volume 638 Author(s): Shancheng Bao, Yuming Lei, Jinsung Wang The extent of transfer following visuomotor adaptation across the arms is typically limited as compared to that within the same arm. However, we have demonstrated that interlimb transfer can occur nearly completely if one arm performs reaching movements associated with a desired trajectory repeatedly and actively during an initial training session in which the other arm adapts to a novel visuomotor adaptation. Based on that finding, we argued that the absence of instances associated with specific motor effectors is the major reason for limited interlimb transfer. Here, we examined whether providing movement instances associated with one arm passively while adapting to a visuomotor rotation with the opposite arm could also lead to a greater extent of interlimb transfer. We had subjects perform reaching movements either actively or passively with the right arm while adapting to a 30° visuomotor rotation with the left arm (training session), and then had them perform reaching movements under the rotation condition with the right arm (transfer session). Results showed that the extent of transfer observed in the active and the passive training groups was significantly greater than that observed in a control group who only experienced the testing session. This finding suggests that providing effector-specific instances can increase the extent of interli...
Source: Neuroscience Letters - Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research