Low Vision Impairs Implicit Sensorimotor Adaptation in Response to Small Errors, But Not Large Errors

Abstract

Successful goal-directed actions require constant fine-tuning of the motor system. This fine-tuning is thought to rely on an implicit adaptation process that is driven by sensory prediction errors (i.e., where you see your hand after reaching vs. where you expected it to be). Individuals with low vision experience challenges with visuomotor control, but whether low vision disrupts motor adaptation is unknown. To explore this question, we assessed individuals with low vision and matched controls with normal vision on a visuomotor task designed to isolate implicit adaptation. We found that low vision was associated with attenuated implicit adaptation only for small visual errors, but not for large visual errors. This result highlights important constraints underlying how low-fidelity visual information is processed by the sensorimotor system to enable successful implicit adaptation.

Divisively normalized neuronal processing of uncertain visual feedback for visuomotor learning

“…6c, h ). Recently, similar results were reported when the uncertainty of visual feedback was manipulated 6 or when the adaptation was tested for low vision participants 41 . The authors tried to explain the result by assuming that the distribution of dots is truncated below a certain threshold due to the inherent saturation property of the learning response (i.e., the learning response remains almost unchanged to the error beyond the threshold level).…”

The independence of impairments in proprioception and visuomotor adaptation after stroke

“…A recent study reported that motor impairments were weak-moderately associated with reductions in visuomotor adaptation after stroke [ 26 ]. Together, the results point to the possibility that other factors, including visual or cognitive function [ 85 , 86 ] may play into distinct profiles of impairment in motor adaptation in the early weeks and months after stroke. Some evidence in older adults suggest that reductions in visuomotor adaptation may be related to cognitive decline [ 87 ].…”