Prism adaptation of underhand throwing: Rotational inertia and the primary and latent aftereffects

The effect of prism adaptation on movement is typically reduced when movement at test (with prisms removed) is different from movement at training. Previous research [J. Fernández-Ruiz, C. Hall-Haro, R. Díaz, J. Mischner, P. Vergara, J. C. Lopez-Garcia, Learning motor synergies makes use of information on muscular load, Learning & Memory 7 (2000) 193–198] suggests, however, that some adaptation is latent and only revealed through further testing in which the movement at training is fully reinstated. Movement in their training trials was throwing overhand to a vertical target with a mass attached to the arm. The critical test trials involved the same act initially without the attached mass and then with the attached mass. In replication, we studied throwing underhand to a horizontal target with left shifting prisms and a dissociation of the throwing arm's mass and moment of inertia. The two main results were that the observed latent aftereffect (a) depended on the similarity of training and test moments of inertia, and (b) combined with the primary aftereffect to yield a condition-independent sum. Discussion focused on a parallel between prism adaptation and principles governing recall highlighted in investigations of implicit memory: whether given training (study) conditions lead to good or poor persistence of adaptation (memory performance) at test depends on the conditions at test relative to the conditions at training (study).