The Influence of Age on the Intermanual Transfer and Retention of Implicit Visuomotor Adaptation

Abstract

We examined age-related changes in intermanual transfer and retention of implicit visuomotor adaptation. We further asked if providing augmented somatosensory feedback regarding movement endpoint would enhance visuomotor adaptation. Twenty young adults and twenty older adults were recruited and randomly divided into an Augmented Feedback group and a Control group. All participants reached to five visual targets with visual feedback rotated 30° counter-clockwise relative to their actual hand motion. Augmented somatosensory feedback was provided at the end of the reach via the robotic handle that participants held. Implicit adaptation was assessed in the absence of visual feedback in the right trained hand and in the left untrained hand following rotated training trials to establish implicit adaptation and intermanual transfer of adaptation respectively. Participants then returned 24 hours later to assess retention in the trained and untrained hands. Results revealed that older adults demonstrated a comparable magnitude of implicit adaptation, transfer and retention of visuomotor adaptation as observed in younger adults, regardless of the presence of augmented somatosensory feedback. To conclude, when visuomotor adaptation is driven implicitly, intermanual transfer and retention do not differ significantly between young and older adults, even when the availability of augmented somatosensory feedback is manipulated.