Savings for visuomotor adaptation require prior history of error, not prior repetition of successful actions

When we move, perturbations to our body or the environment can elicit discrepancies between predicted and actual outcomes. We readily adapt movements to compensate for such discrepancies, and the retention of this learning is evident as savings, or faster readaptation to a previously encountered per...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Leow, L., de Rugy, A., Marinovic, Welber, Riek, S., Carroll, T.
Format: Journal Article
Published: American Physiological Society 2016
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/50474
_version_ 1848758481974198272
author Leow, L.
de Rugy, A.
Marinovic, Welber
Riek, S.
Carroll, T.
author_facet Leow, L.
de Rugy, A.
Marinovic, Welber
Riek, S.
Carroll, T.
author_sort Leow, L.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description When we move, perturbations to our body or the environment can elicit discrepancies between predicted and actual outcomes. We readily adapt movements to compensate for such discrepancies, and the retention of this learning is evident as savings, or faster readaptation to a previously encountered perturbation. The mechanistic processes contributing to savings, or even the necessary conditions for savings, are not fully understood. One theory suggests that savings requires increased sensitivity to previously experienced errors: when perturbations evoke a sequence of correlated errors, we increase our sensitivity to the errors experienced, which subsequently improves error correction (Herzfeld et al. 2014). An alternative theory suggests that a memory of actions is necessary for savings: when an action becomes associated with successful target acquisition through repetition, that action is more rapidly retrieved at subsequent learning (Huang et al. 2011). In the present study, to better understand the necessary conditions for savings, we tested how savings is affected by prior experience of similar errors and prior repetition of the action required to eliminate errors using a factorial design. Prior experience of errors induced by a visuomotor rotation in the savings block was either prevented at initial learning by gradually removing an oppositely signed perturbation or enforced by abruptly removing the perturbation. Prior repetition of the action required to eliminate errors in the savings block was either deprived or enforced by manipulating target location in preceding trials. The data suggest that prior experience of errors is both necessary and sufficient for savings, whereas prior repetition of a successful action is neither necessary nor sufficient for savings.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T09:44:41Z
format Journal Article
id curtin-20.500.11937-50474
institution Curtin University Malaysia
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T09:44:41Z
publishDate 2016
publisher American Physiological Society
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling curtin-20.500.11937-504742017-09-13T15:41:04Z Savings for visuomotor adaptation require prior history of error, not prior repetition of successful actions Leow, L. de Rugy, A. Marinovic, Welber Riek, S. Carroll, T. When we move, perturbations to our body or the environment can elicit discrepancies between predicted and actual outcomes. We readily adapt movements to compensate for such discrepancies, and the retention of this learning is evident as savings, or faster readaptation to a previously encountered perturbation. The mechanistic processes contributing to savings, or even the necessary conditions for savings, are not fully understood. One theory suggests that savings requires increased sensitivity to previously experienced errors: when perturbations evoke a sequence of correlated errors, we increase our sensitivity to the errors experienced, which subsequently improves error correction (Herzfeld et al. 2014). An alternative theory suggests that a memory of actions is necessary for savings: when an action becomes associated with successful target acquisition through repetition, that action is more rapidly retrieved at subsequent learning (Huang et al. 2011). In the present study, to better understand the necessary conditions for savings, we tested how savings is affected by prior experience of similar errors and prior repetition of the action required to eliminate errors using a factorial design. Prior experience of errors induced by a visuomotor rotation in the savings block was either prevented at initial learning by gradually removing an oppositely signed perturbation or enforced by abruptly removing the perturbation. Prior repetition of the action required to eliminate errors in the savings block was either deprived or enforced by manipulating target location in preceding trials. The data suggest that prior experience of errors is both necessary and sufficient for savings, whereas prior repetition of a successful action is neither necessary nor sufficient for savings. 2016 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/50474 10.1152/jn.01055.2015 American Physiological Society unknown
spellingShingle Leow, L.
de Rugy, A.
Marinovic, Welber
Riek, S.
Carroll, T.
Savings for visuomotor adaptation require prior history of error, not prior repetition of successful actions
title Savings for visuomotor adaptation require prior history of error, not prior repetition of successful actions
title_full Savings for visuomotor adaptation require prior history of error, not prior repetition of successful actions
title_fullStr Savings for visuomotor adaptation require prior history of error, not prior repetition of successful actions
title_full_unstemmed Savings for visuomotor adaptation require prior history of error, not prior repetition of successful actions
title_short Savings for visuomotor adaptation require prior history of error, not prior repetition of successful actions
title_sort savings for visuomotor adaptation require prior history of error, not prior repetition of successful actions
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/50474