Environmental Consistency Modulation of Error Sensitivity During Motor Adaptation is Explicitly Controlled

Motor adaptation, the adjustment of sensorimotor representations in face of changes in the environment, may operate at different rates. When human participants encounter repeated or consistent perturbations, their corrections for the experienced errors are larger compared to when the perturbations are new or inconsistent. Such modulations of error sensitivity were traditionally considered to be an implicit process that does not require attentional resources. In recent years, the implicit view of motor adaptation is challenged by evidence showing a contribution of explicit strategies to learning. These findings raise a fundamental question regarding the nature of the error sensitivity modulation processes. We tested the effect of explicit control on error sensitivity in a series of experiments, in which participants controlled a screen cursor to virtual targets. We manipulated environmental consistency by presenting rotations in random (low consistency) or random walk (high consistency) sequences, and illustrated that perturbation consistency affects the rate of adaptation, corroborating previous studies. When participants were instructed to ignore the cursor and move directly to the target, thus, eliminating the contribution of explicit strategies, consistency-driven error sensitivity modulation was abolished. In addition, delaying the visual feedback, a manipulation that affects implicit learning, did not influence error sensitivity under consistent perturbations. These results suggest that increases of learning rate in consistent environments are attributable to an explicit rather than implicit process in sensorimotor adaptation. Significant Statement When experiencing an error in a motor task (e.g., missing a basketball shot in a windy day), the motor system modifies its next action based on environmental consistency (how frequent the changes in wind’s direction and strength are). It is unknown whether this process is driven by an implicit and automatic process, or by an explicit process that employs cognitive strategies. We examined these possibilities in a simple visuomotor task by perturbing the feedback in each trial with different consistency levels, and manipulating the use of implicit and explicit processes. We found that participants increase their sensitivity to errors in consistent environments when employing explicit strategies, and do not change their behavior when the implicit process is operating alone.