Effects of adaptation to altered display gain on the control of single aimed movements

A display gain setting defines the mapping of a movement to the real-time visual display. In two experiments we investigated how the acquired adaptation to low and high display gain affected motor control of single aimed stylus movements. Experiments differed with respect to how gain was varied. In Experiment 1, gain was realized by manipulating the surface displacements with a constant display. The results show an expected linear decrease of movement time and spatial accuracy, which is in sharp contrast with the often-reported U-shaped relation. Experiment 2 was run to study the influence of visual feedback in low- and high-gain conditions. The manipulation of gain was realized by display variation with unaltered surface displacements. The linear increase of movement time and feedback processing with gain and the unaltered spatial accuracy across conditions, suggested that participants actively adapted to the displayed visual information in altered gain conditions.