Multiple Concurrent Visual-Motor Mappings: Implications for Models of Adaptation  (1994)

Previous research on adaptation to visual-motor rearrangement suggests that the central nervous system represents accurately only 1 visual-motor mapping at a time. This idea was examined in 3 experiments where subjects tracked a moving target under repeated alternations between 2 initially interfering mappings (the "normal" mapping characteristic of computer input devices and a 108° rotation of the normal mapping). Alternation between the 2 mappings led to significant reduction in error under the rotated mapping and significant reduction in the adaptation aftereffect ordinarily caused by switching between mappings. Color as a discriminative cue, interference versus decay in adaptation aftereffect, and intermanual transfer were also examined. The results reveal a capacity for multiple concurrent visual-motor mappings, possibly controlled by a para netric process near.

+ Welch, Robert

+ Cunningham, H

+ Welch, Robert

adaptation, adaptation aftereffe, central nervous syst, Color as a discrimin, mapping, visual motor, visual-motor

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Copyright 1994 by the American Psychological Association, Inc. Human Perception and Performance 1994, Vol 20, No. 5, 987-999