Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Brief Communication
  • Published:

Random presentation enables subjects to adapt to two opposing forces on the hand

Nature Neuroscience volume 7, pages 111–112 (2004)Cite this article

An Erratum to this article was published on 01 March 2004

Abstract

Studies have shown that humans cannot simultaneously learn opposing force fields or opposing visuomotor rotations, even when provided with arbitrary contextual information, probably because of interference in their working memory1,2,3,4,5,6. In contrast, we found that subjects can adapt to two opposing force fields when provided with contextual cues and can consolidate motor memories if random and frequent switching occurs. Because significant aftereffects were seen, this study suggests that multiple internal models can be acquired simultaneously during learning and predictively switched, depending only on contextual information.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Experimental procedure.
Figure 2: Hand paths of a typical subject.
Figure 3: Learning curves.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Gandolfo, F., Mussa-Ivaldi, F.A. & Bizzi, E. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 93, 3843–3846 (1996).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Brashers-Krug, T., Shadmehr, R. & Bizzi, E. Nature 382, 252–255 (1996).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Krakauer, J.W., Ghilardi, M.F. & Ghez, C. Nat. Neurosci. 2, 1026–1031 (1999).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Wigmore, V., Tong, C. & Flanagan, J.R. J. Exp. Psychol. Hum. Percept. Perform. 28, 447–457 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Karniel, A. & Mussa-Ivaldi, A. Exp. Brain. Res. 143, 520–524 (2002).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Tong, C., Wolpert, D.M. & Flanagan, J.R. J. Neurosci. 22, 1108–1113 (2002).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Shadmehr, R., Donchin, O., Hwang, E.J., Hemminger, S.E. & Rao, A. Motor Cortex and Voluntary Movements (ed. Vaadia, E.) (CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, USA, in the press).

  8. Bock, O., Schneider, S. & Bloomberg, J. Exp. Brain. Res. 138, 359–365 (2001).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Cunningham, H.A. & Welch, R.B. J. Exp. Psychol. Hum. Percept. Perform. 20, 987–999 (1994).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Welch, R.B., Bridgeman, B., Anand, S. & Browman, K.E. Percept. Psychophys. 54, 195–204 (1993).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Kravitz, J.H. & Yaffe, F.L. Percept. Psychophys. 12, 305–308 (1972).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Takahashi, C.D., Scheidt, R.A. & Reinkensmeyer, D.J. J. Neurophysiol. 86, 1047–1051 (2001).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Burdet, E., Osu, R., Franklin, D.W., Milner, T.E. & Kawato, M. Nature 414, 446–449 (2001).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Wolpert, D.M. & Kawato, M. Neural Netw. 11, 1317–1329 (1998).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Wada, Y. et al. Neurosci. Res. 46, 319–331 (2003).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Telecommunications Advancement Organization of Japan and the Human Frontier Science Program. We thank T. Milner for improving the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories, 2-2-2, Hikaridai, Seika-cho, Soraku-gun, Kyoto, 619-0288, Japan

    Rieko Osu, Satomi Hirai, Toshinori Yoshioka & Mitsuo Kawato

  2. Nara Institute of Science and Technology, 8916-5, Takayama-cho, Ikoma, Nara, 630-0101, Japan

    Satomi Hirai

Authors
  1. Rieko Osu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Satomi Hirai
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Toshinori Yoshioka
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Mitsuo Kawato
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rieko Osu.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Osu, R., Hirai, S., Yoshioka, T. et al. Random presentation enables subjects to adapt to two opposing forces on the hand. Nat Neurosci 7, 111–112 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1184

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1184

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing