Explicit and implicit contributions to learning in a sensorimotor adaptation task
Open accessAbstract
Visuomotor adaptation has been thought to be an implicit process that results when a sensory-prediction error signal is used to update a forward model. A striking feature of human competence is the ability to receive verbal instructions and employ strategies to solve tasks; such explicit processes could be used during visuomotor adaptation. Here, we used a novel task design that allowed us to obtain continuous verbal reports of aiming direction while participants learned a visuomotor rotation. We had two main hypotheses: the contribution of explicit learning would be modulated by instruction and the contribution of implicit learning would be modulated by the form of error feedback. By directly assaying aiming direction, we could identify the time course of the explicit component and, via subtraction, isolate the implicit component of learning. There were marked differences in the time courses of explicit and implicit contributions to learning. Explicit learning, driven by target error, was achieved by initially large then smaller explorations of aiming direction biased toward the correct solution. In contrast, implicit learning, driven by a sensory-prediction error, was slow and monotonic. Continuous error feedback reduced the amplitude of explicit learning and increased the contribution of implicit learning. The presence of instruction slightly increased the rate of initial learning and only had a subtle effect on implicit learning. We conclude that visuomotor adaptation, even in the absence of instruction, results from the interplay between explicit learning driven by target error and implicit learning of a forward model driven by prediction error.
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It is now known from careful psychophysical work that many distinct learning algorithms operate together to counter the effects of a perturbation during adaptation, even though phenotypically their summed behavior can look like pure error-based cerebellar learning.
“Crucially, however, it is now known from careful psychophysical work that many distinct learning algorithms operate together to counter the effects of a perturbation during adaptation, even though phenotypically their summed behavior can look like pure error-based cerebellar learning (Huang et al., 2011;Taylor et al., 2014).”
From Neuroscience Needs Behavior: Correcting a Reductionist Bias (2017) · cites this paper as Taylor et al., 2014
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- Authors
- Taylor, J. A., Krakauer, J. W., & Ivry, R. B.
- Affiliations
- Johns Hopkins University (US)
- University of California, Berkeley (US)
- Venue
- The Journal of Neuroscience
- Publisher
- Society for Neuroscience
- Published
- 2014-02-19
- Volume
- 34
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 3023-3032
- ISSN
- 0270-6474 (ISSN-L)
- 1529-2401
- PMC
- PMC3931506
- OpenAlex
- W2083905756
- Cited by
- 768
- References
- 51
- Citations by year
- 2026: 69 · 2025: 88 · 2024: 89 · 2023: 66 · 2022: 65 · 2021: 80 · 2020: 73 · 2019: 68 · 2018: 56 · 2017: 45 · 2016: 32 · 2015: 26 · 2014: 11
- FWCI
- 21.19
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Neuroscience (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- James S. McDonnell Foundation (220020220)
- National Institutes of Health (7r01ns052804-05)
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (R01NS074917, R01NS084948, R01NS-052804)
- National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01HD060306)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Motor Control and Adaptation
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Embodied and Extended Cognition
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Visual perception and processing mechanisms
- Keywords
- visuomotor adaptation, explicit learning, implicit learning, forward model, prediction error, error feedback, verbal instructions, sensorimotor learning, motor learning, time course of learning
- MeSH terms
- Adaptation, Psychological, Adolescent, Adult, Analysis of Variance, Biomechanical Phenomena, Cerebellum, Color, Cues, Female, Humans, Learning, Male, Models, Psychological, Motor Skills, Psychomotor Performance, Reaction Time, Feedback, Psychological, Young Adult
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