Individual movement features during prism adaptation correlate with after-effects and interlimb transfer

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Motor Control
• Human Adaptation

Background:

• The human nervous system exhibits remarkable plasticity, enabling adaptation to environmental and bodily changes.
• Understanding sensorimotor adaptation generalization and influencing factors across different limbs and situations is crucial but remains unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the factors driving interlimb transfer of sensorimotor adaptation by exploiting inter-individual differences.
• To determine if kinematic features correlate with the coordinate frame (extrinsic vs. intrinsic) used for visuomotor adaptation.

Main Methods:

• Twenty healthy adults underwent adaptation to prismatic glasses using their dominant arm for reaching tasks.
• Analysis included classic adaptation, generalization across directions, interlimb transfer, and correlation of kinematic parameters with transfer type.

Main Results:

• Significant generalization was observed across movement directions, but interlimb transfer varied substantially among participants.
• Some participants showed transfer consistent with extrinsic coordinate encoding, while others exhibited intrinsic coordinate system transfer.
• Peak acceleration, peak velocity, and movement direction variability were correlated with interlimb transfer, with distinct patterns for extrinsic and intrinsic transfer.

Conclusions:

• Individual movement characteristics, such as peak acceleration and variability, are linked to sensorimotor adaptation and its generalization.
• Distinct movement features may indicate different coordinate frames for action representation in the nervous system, influencing interlimb transfer.