Measures of Implicit and Explicit Adaptation Do Not Linearly Add

Abstract

Moving effectively is essential for any animal. Thus, many different kinds of brain processes likely contribute to learning and adapting movement. How these contributions are combined is unknown. Nevertheless, the field of motor adaptation has been working under the assumption that measures of explicit and implicit motor adaptation can simply be added in total adaptation. While this has been tested, we show that these tests were insufficient. We put this additivity assumption to the test in various ways, and find that measures of implicit and explicit adaptation are not additive. This means that future studies should measure both implicit and explicit adaptation directly. It also challenges us to disentangle how various motor adaptation processes do combine when producing movements, and may have implications for our understanding of other kinds of learning as well. (data and code: https://osf.io/dh86e)