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In the absence of physical practice, observation and imagery do not result in updating of internal models for aiming

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Abstract

The presence of after-effects in adaptation tasks implies that an existing internal model has been updated. Previously, we showed that although observers adapted to a visuomotor perturbation, they did not show after-effects. In this experiment, we tested 2 further observer groups and an actor group. Observers were now actively engaged in watching (encouraged through imagery and movement estimation), with one group physically practising for 25% of the trials (mixed). Participants estimated the hand movements that produced various cursor trajectories and/or their own hand movement from a preceding trial. These trials also allowed us to assess the development of explicit knowledge as a function of the three practice conditions. The pure observation group did not show after-effects, whereas the actor and mixed groups did. The pure observation group improved their ability to estimate hand movement of the video model. Although the actor and mixed groups improved in actual reaching accuracy, they did not improve in explicit estimation. The mixed group was more accurate in reaching during adaptation and showed larger after-effects than the actors. We suggest that observation encourages an explicit mode of learning, enabling performance benefits without corresponding changes to an internal model of the mapping between output and sensory input. However, some physical practice interspersed with observation can change the manner with which learning is achieved, encouraging implicit learning and the updating of an existing internal model.

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Notes

  1. One participant was excluded at the analyses stage due to unusually large pretest aiming error.

  2. A Calcomp Drawing Board III (225 Hz, 200 lines/cm resolution) was used for data collection for the OBS and ACT groups. Due to a malfunction after testing these groups, a new version of the tablet was used for the MIX group. The main difference between these tablets was that a custom-made pointing device was used with the first tablet, allowing for movements of the index finger on the tablet (with the mouse attached to the top of the hand). However, this custom-made device was not compatible with the new tablet, such that a new mouse was constructed that had a plastic extension with cross-hairs for placement of the index finger. Both devices were calibrated before testing, and pilot testing ensured that pretest errors (i.e. normal aiming) were not significantly different across the 3 groups.

  3. To determine whether the requirement to estimate their own hand trajectory impacted errors for the ACT group, we compared this group’s performance to a previous group who practised with vision of the hand and cursor in a previous experiment (Ong and Hodges 2010). A 2 Group × 8 Block ANOVA yielded no significant group-related effects, both Fs < 1.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by a Discovery grant to the final author from Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).

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Correspondence to Nicola J. Hodges.

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Ong, N.T., Larssen, B.C. & Hodges, N.J. In the absence of physical practice, observation and imagery do not result in updating of internal models for aiming. Exp Brain Res 218, 9–19 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-011-2996-1

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