Interacting adaptive processes with different timescales underlie short-term motor learning.

ABSTRACT: Multiple processes may contribute to motor skill acquisition, but it is thought that many of these processes require sleep or the passage of long periods of time ranging from several hours to many days or weeks. Here we demonstrate that within a timescale of minutes, two distinct fast-acting processes drive motor adaptation. One process responds weakly to error but retains information well, whereas the other responds strongly but has poor retention. This two-state learning system makes the surprising prediction of spontaneous recovery (or adaptation rebound) if error feedback is clamped at zero following an adaptation-extinction training episode. We used a novel paradigm to experimentally confirm this prediction in human motor learning of reaching, and we show that the interaction between

SUBMITTER: Smith MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1463025 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature