Direct-effects and after-effects of dynamic adaptation on intralimb and interlimb transfer

Abstract After-effects following sensorimotor adaptation are generally considered as evidence for the formation of an internal model, although evidence lacks on whether the absence of after-effects necessarily indicates that the adaptation did not result in the formation of an internal model. Here, we examined direct- and after-effects of dynamic adaptation with one arm at one workspace on subsequent performance with the other arm, as well as the same arm at another workspace. During training, subjects performed reaching movements under a novel dynamic condition with the right arm; during testing, they performed reaching movements with the left or right arm at a new workspace, under either the same dynamic condition (direct-effects) or a normal condition (after-effects). Results showed significant transfer within the same arm in terms of both direct- and after-effects, but significant transfer across the arms only in terms of direct-effects. These findings suggest that the formation of an internal model does not always result in after-effects. They also support the idea that the neural representation developed after sensorimotor adaptation comprise some aspects that are effector independent and other aspects that are effector dependent; and that direct- and after-effects following sensorimotor adaptation mainly reflect the effector-independent and the effector-dependent aspects, respectively.