Generalization patterns for reach adaptation and proprioceptive recalibration differ after visuomotor learning

Visuomotor learning results in changes in both motor and sensory systems (Cressman EK, Henriques DY. J Neurophysiol 102: 3505-3518, 2009), such that reaches are adapted and sense of felt hand position recalibrated after reaching with altered visual feedback of the hand. Moreover, visuomotor learning has been shown to generalize such that reach adaptation achieved at a trained target location can influence reaches to novel target directions (Krakauer JW, Pine ZM, Ghilardi MF, Ghez C. J Neurosci 20: 8916-8924, 2000). We looked to determine whether proprioceptive recalibration also generalizes to novel locations. Moreover, we looked to establish the relationship between reach adaptation and changes in sense of felt hand position by determining whether proprioceptive recalibration generalizes to novel targets in a similar manner as reach adaptation. On training trials, subjects reached to a single target with aligned or misaligned cursor-hand feedback, in which the cursor was either rotated or scaled in extent relative to hand movement. After reach training, subjects reached to the training target and novel targets (including targets from a second start position) without visual feedback to assess generalization of reach adaptation. Subjects then performed a proprioceptive estimation task, in which they indicated the position of their hand relative to visual reference markers placed at similar locations as the trained and novel reach targets. Results indicated that shifts in hand position generalized across novel locations, independent of reach adaptation. Thus these distinct sensory and motor generalization patterns suggest that reach adaptation and proprioceptive recalibration arise from independent error signals and that changes in one system cannot guide adjustments in the other.