Abstract
Previous studies have demonstrated changes in motor memories with the passage of time on the order of hours. We sought to further this work by determining the influence that time on the order of seconds has on motor learning by changing the duration between successive reaches (inter-reach-interval (IRI)). Human subjects made reaching movements to visual targets while holding onto a robotic manipulandum that presented a viscous curl field. We tested four experimental groups that differed with respect to the IRI (0.5, 5, 10 or 20 s). The 0.5 s IRI group performed significantly worse with respect to a learning index than the other groups over the first set of 192 reaches. Each group demonstrated significant learning during the first set. There was no significant difference with respect to the learning index between the 5, 10 and 20 s IRI groups. During the second and third set of 192 reaches the 0.5 s IRI group’s performance became indistinguishable from the other groups indicating that with continued training the initial deficit in performance could be overcome.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abrams ML, Grice JK (1976) Effects of practice and positional variables in acquisition of a complex psychomotor skill. Percept Mot Skills 43:203–211
Burdet E, Osu R, Franklin DW, Milner TE, Kawato M (2001) The central nervous system stabilizes unstable dynamics by learning optimal impedance. Nature 414:446–449
Conditt MA, Gandolfo F, Mussa-Ivaldi FA (1997) The motor system does not learn the dynamics of the arm by rote memorization of past experience. J Neurophysiol 78:554–560
Donchin O, Francis JT, Shadmehr R (2003) Quantifying generalization from trial-by-trial behavior of adaptive systems that learn with basis functions: theory and experiments in human motor control. J Neurosci 23:9032–9045
Donchin O, Sawaki L, Madupu G, Cohen LG, Shadmehr R (2002) Mechanisms influencing acquisition and recall of motor memories. J Neurophysiol 88:2114–2123
Hung VS, Francis JT, Shadmehr R (2003) Temporal generalization of motor memory. Program No. 822.16. 2003. Abstract Viewer/Itinerary Planner. Washington, DC: Society for Neuroscience
Lackner JR, Dizio P (1994) Rapid adaptation to Coriolis force perturbations of arm trajectory. J Neurophysiol 72:299–313
Osu R, Burdet E, Franklin DW, Milner TE, Kawato M (2003) Different mechanisms involved in adaptation to stable and unstable dynamics. J Neurophysiol 90:3255–3269
Shadmehr R, Brashers-Krug T (1997) Functional stages in the formation of human long-term motor memory. J Neuroscience 17:409–419
Shadmehr R, Holcomb HH (1997) Neural correlates of motor memory consolidation. Science 277:821–825
Shadmehr R, Mussa-Ivaldi FA (1994) Adaptive representation of dynamics during learning of a motor task. J Neurosci 14:3208–3224
Takahashi CD, Scheidt RA, Reinkensmeyer DJ (2001) Impedance control and internal model formation when reaching in a randomly varying dynamical environment. J Neurophysiol 86:1047–1051
Thoroughman KA, Shadmehr R (2000) Learning of action through adaptive combination of motor primitives. Nature 407:742–747 (see comments)
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Reza Shadmehr for the use of his manipulandum, Vincent Huang and Haiyin Chen for help with the experiments, Opher Donchin as well as Steven Schiff for advice on the manuscript. This work was supported by NIH grant 2-R01-NS037422.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Francis, J.T. Influence of the inter-reach-interval on motor learning. Exp Brain Res 167, 128–131 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-005-0062-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-005-0062-6