Facilitated adaptation via structural learning increases bimanual interference.

Abstract

Bimanual coordination is an essential feature of the motor system, yet interactions between the limbs during independent control remain poorly understood. Interference between the two hands, or the assimilation of movement characteristics between the two effectors, can be induced by perturbing one arm (e.g., via visuomotor rotation) and then measuring the effects in the contralateral limb. In this study, we sought to further determine the role adaptation plays in bimanual interference using a structural learning paradigm to alter feedback regulation in reaching. We trained healthy participants to counter 60 unique random rotations in right hand visual feedback over 240 reaches. Following this, we assessed feedforward and feedback measures of interference in a bimanual reaching task where the right hand was exposed to a fixed visual feedback rotation while the left hand reached without visual feedback. We found that participants who had been exposed to the structural training task in the right hand showed increased left hand interference during the first 20 trials of the test task. Moreover, interference was greater in feedback, rather than feedforward control parameters. The results further suggest that structural learning enhances bimanual interference via sensory feedback upregulation.