Abstract
Prism adaptation is a well-known model to study sensorimotor adaptive processes. It has been shown that following prism exposure, after-effects are not only restricted to the sensorimotor level but extend as well to spatial cognition. The main purpose of the present study was to investigate in healthy individuals whether expansion to spatial cognition is restricted to adaptive processes peculiar to prism adaptation or whether it occurs as well following other forms of adaptive process such as adaptation to a novel dynamic environment during pointing movements. Representational after-effects were assessed by the perceptual line bisection task before and after adaptation to a leftward or a rightward force field. The main results showed that adaptation developed at sensorimotor level but did not influence space representation. Our results have therefore a strong methodological impact for prospective investigations focusing on sensorimotor plasticity while sparing space cognition. These methodological considerations will be particulary relevant when addressing sensorimotor plasticity in patients with specific representational feature to preserve. The discussion highlights the differences between prism and dynamic adaptation that could explain the lack of after-effect on space representation following force field adaptation.
Highlights
Graceful motor actions rely on successful interaction between our body and the environment
If the generalization of adaptation to spatial cognition depends on adaptive processes peculiar to prism adaptation, after-effects of adaptation to force field should not interfere with space representation
The main objective of the present experiment was to investigate whether adaptation to a dynamic perturbation transfers to space representation in healthy individuals
Summary
Graceful motor actions rely on successful interaction between our body and the environment. We set out to investigate whether the asymmetrical expansion of sensorimotor after-effects induced by prisms to spatial cognition is a phenomenon specific to prism adaptation or whether it occurs as well following other forms of adaptive processes such as when we adapt pointing movements to a novel dynamic environment producing proprioceptive changes[24]. If neglect-like cognitive after-effects in healthy individuals depend on the occurrence of sensorimotor effects, we should observe space representational biases only after dynamic adaptation to a leftward force field that requires a compensatory rightward motor command. If the generalization of adaptation to spatial cognition depends on adaptive processes peculiar to prism adaptation, after-effects of adaptation to force field should not interfere with space representation
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