The role of awareness in explicit and implicit visuomotor adaptation

运动适应是我们的感觉运动系统修改或塑造先前学习的动作以满足不断变化的任务需求的过程。例如，我们可能需要调整我们的运动来适应由年龄、疾病或疲劳等引起的内部神经肌肉变化，或者适应外部环境的变化，如一副新的处方眼镜或结冰的人行道。我研究的长期目标是确定大脑如何在不断变化的环境中处理感官信息以进行目标导向的行动。在短期内，拟议的研究将调查意识（例如，策略和/或提供的指令）在如何适应运动以满足新的感觉运动需求中的作用。这种适应既可以是显性的（例如，为了满足不断变化的任务需求而有意识地采用策略），也可以是隐性的（例如，在没有有意识意识的情况下适应动作）。通过一系列的三个项目，我将解决以下当前围绕意识和运动适应的问题：

Motor adaptation is the process whereby our sensorimotor system modifies or shapes previously learned movements to meet changing task demands. For example, we might need to adapt our movements to internal neuromuscular changes brought about by age, disease, or fatigue, etc., or to external environmental changes such as a new pair of prescription glasses or an icy sidewalk. The long-term goal of my research is to determine how the brain processes sensory information for goal-directed action in a continuously changing environment. In the short-term, the proposed research will investigate the role of awareness (e.g., strategies and/or instructions provided) in how movements are adapted to meet novel sensorimotor demands. This adaptation can arise both explicitly (e.g., a strategy is adopted consciously in order to meet changing task demands) and implicitly (e.g., movements are adapted without conscious awareness) at the same time. Through a series of three projects, I will address the following current questions surrounding awareness and motor adaptation: 1. Does awareness influence the extent of explicit and implicit adaptation over time? 2. Is the ability to generalize explicit and implicit adaptation to novel environments dependent on awareness? 3. Does awareness influence the preparation and execution of explicitly and implicitly adapted movements? In order to evaluate the role of awareness in motor adaptation, I will monitor the extent to which human participants explicitly and implicitly adapt their reaching movements in a novel visual environment when awareness is manipulated. Specifically, participants will reach in a virtual reality environment when the visual representation of their hand on a computer screen is shifted relative to their actual hand location (much the same as using a mouse to control a cursor on a computer monitor). To manipulate awareness, some participants will be instructed on how to act within the novel environment, while others will not be aware that the environment has changed. Results will provide insight into the role of awareness on motor preparation and execution to meet changing task demands. Furthermore, understanding the influence of awareness on explicit and implicit adaptation has important implications for interactions with virtual-reality devices (e.g., flight simulators), teleoperations (e.g., remote surgery) and robotics, as well as the design of and instructions provided during motor training and rehabilitation programs. For example, providing instructions may promote initial learning (i.e., explicit adaptation), such that performance improves quickly. However, this quick learning may have an associated cost. Specifically, continually evoking strategies may lead to increased preparation time and inefficient movements in the long term (i.e., limited implicit adaptation).