Learning and generalization in an isometric visuomotor task.

Adaptation is a prominent feature of the human motor system and has been studied extensively in reaching movements. This study characterizes adaptation and generalization during isometric reaching in which the arm remains stationary and the participant controls a virtual cursor via force applied by the hand. We measured how learning of a visual cursor rotation generalizes across workspace 1) to determine the coordinate system that predominates visual rotation learning, and 2) to ascertain whether mapping type, namely position or velocity control, influences transfer. Participants performed virtual reaches to one of two orthogonal training targets with the applied rotation. In a new workspace, participants reached to a single target, similar to the training target in either hand or joint space. Furthermore, a control experiment measured within-workspace generalization to an orthogonal target. Across position and velocity mappings, learning transferred predominantly in intrinsic (joint) space, although the ...