The Effects of the Error-Sensitivity and Perturbation Schedules on the Slow and Fast Processes in Reach Adaptation

To study the processes involved in motor adaptation we examined the occurrence of a spontaneous rebound to investigate any behavioural differences between a perturbation that was introduced abruptly compared to gradually. We used a within-subjects design where all participants adapted to the same 30-degree rotation introduced both gradually and abruptly. We found no significant differences between the abrupt and gradual conditions on the size of the rebound. In attempt to tease out more of the explicit component of the abrupt condition, we also ran the same paradigm using a 60-degree rotation. Similarly, we found that the way the perturbation was introduced did not affect the size of the rebound. As a second study, we also ran this same paradigm in a virtual reality setup. Our results show no significant differences in the rebound between the different setups, confirming that it is feasible to run motor adaptation experiments in virtual reality.