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The Effect of Visual Uncertainty on Implicit Motor Adaptation

View ORCID ProfileJonathan S. Tsay, View ORCID ProfileGuy Avraham, View ORCID ProfileHyosub E. Kim, View ORCID ProfileDarius E. Parvin, View ORCID ProfileZixuan Wang, View ORCID ProfileRichard B. Ivry
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.03.15.992008
Jonathan S. Tsay
1Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley
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  • For correspondence: xiaotsay2015@berkeley.edu
Guy Avraham
1Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley
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Hyosub E. Kim
3Department of Physical Therapy, University of Delaware
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Darius E. Parvin
1Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley
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Zixuan Wang
1Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley
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Richard B. Ivry
1Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley
2Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley
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ABSTRACT

Sensorimotor adaptation is driven by sensory prediction errors, the difference between the predicted and actual feedback. When the position of the feedback is made uncertain, adaptation is attenuated. This effect, in the context of optimal sensory integration models, has been attributed to a weakening of the error signal driving adaptation. Here we consider an alternative hypothesis, namely that uncertainty alters the perceived location of the feedback. We present two visuomotor adaptation experiments to compare these hypotheses, varying the size and uncertainty of a visual error signal. Uncertainty attenuated learning when the error size was small but had no effect when the error size was large. This pattern of results favors the hypothesis that uncertainty does not impact the strength of the error signal, but rather, leads to mis-localization of the error. We formalize these ideas to offer a novel perspective on the effect of visual uncertainty on implicit sensorimotor adaptation.

SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Current models of sensorimotor adaptation assume that the rate of learning will be related to properties of the error signal (e.g., size, consistency, relevance). Recent evidence has challenged this view, pointing to a rigid, modular system, one that automatically recalibrates the sensorimotor map in response to movement errors, with minimal constraint. In light of these developments, this study revisits the influence of feedback uncertainty on sensorimotor adaptation. Adaptation was attenuated in response to a noisy feedback signal, but the effect was only manifest for small errors and not for large errors. This interaction suggests that uncertainty does not weaken the error signal. Rather, it may influence the perceived location of the feedback and thus the change in the sensorimotor map induced by that error. These ideas are formalized to show how the motor system remains exquisitely calibrated, even if adaptation is largely insensitive to the statistics of error signals.

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-ND 4.0 International license.
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Posted March 17, 2020.
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The Effect of Visual Uncertainty on Implicit Motor Adaptation
Jonathan S. Tsay, Guy Avraham, Hyosub E. Kim, Darius E. Parvin, Zixuan Wang, Richard B. Ivry
bioRxiv 2020.03.15.992008; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.03.15.992008
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The Effect of Visual Uncertainty on Implicit Motor Adaptation
Jonathan S. Tsay, Guy Avraham, Hyosub E. Kim, Darius E. Parvin, Zixuan Wang, Richard B. Ivry
bioRxiv 2020.03.15.992008; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.03.15.992008

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