PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Scott T. Albert
AU  - Emily Blaum
AU  - Daniel Blustein
TI  - Sensory prediction error drives subconscious motor learning outside of the laboratory
AID  - 10.1101/2023.02.22.529399
DP  - 2023 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2023.02.22.529399
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2023/03/06/2023.02.22.529399.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2023/03/06/2023.02.22.529399.full
AB  - Sensorimotor adaptation is supported by at least two parallel learning systems: an explicit strategy which is intentionally controlled, and an involuntary implicit learning system. These two systems are generally studied in laboratory settings using visuomotor rotations, studies that have shown subconscious learning systems to be driven in part by sensory prediction error (i.e., the mismatch between the realized and expected outcome of an action). Here we used a ball rolling task to explore whether sensory prediction errors can drive implicit motor adaptation outside of the standard and highly constrained laboratory environment. After application of a visual shift, participants rapidly adapted their rolling angles to reduce the error between the ball and target. We removed all visual feedback and told participants to aim their throw directly toward the primary target, revealing an unintentional 5.06° implicit adjustment to reach angles that decayed over time. To determine whether this implicit adaptation was driven by sensory prediction error, we tested participants in a second paradigm similar to Mazzoni and Krakauer (2006) in which participants were given an aiming target that would ‘solve’ the visual shift. As expected, the aiming group developed a larger explicit strategy increasing their total adaptation. Remarkably, after rapidly reducing ball rolling error to zero, rolling angles in the aiming group gradually drifted over time, resulting in an overcompensation of 3.15° beyond the target (and towards the aiming target). This involuntary drift in rolling angle, which resulted in worsening task performance, is a hallmark of implicit learning driven by sensory prediction error. These results show for the first time that implicit processes driven by sensory prediction error studied in the laboratory actively contribute to motor adaptation in naturalistic skill-based tasks with more complex body motion and interactions with external physical objects.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.