Experiencing the Cross-Sensory Error Signal During Movement Leads to Proprioceptive Recalibration

Abstract

Reaching to targets in a virtual reality environment with misaligned visual feedback of the hand results in changes in movements (visuomotor adaptation) and sense of felt hand position (proprioceptive recalibration). We asked if proprioceptive recalibration arises even when the misalignment between visual and proprioceptive estimates of hand position is only experienced during movement. Participants performed a “shooting task” through the targets with a cursor that was rotated 30° clockwise relative to hand motion. Results revealed that, following training on the shooting task, participants adapted their reaches to all targets by approximately 16° and recalibrated their sense of felt hand position by 8°. Thus, experiencing a sensory misalignment between visual and proprioceptive estimates of hand position during movement leads to proprioceptive recalibration.

Keywords:

• visuomotor adaptation
• proprioceptive recalibration
• cross-sensory error signal
• movement

Disclosure statement

No conflicts of interest, financial or otherwise, are declared by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by a Discovery Grant provided by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (E. K. Cressman).