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      Representing multiple object weights: competing priors and sensorimotor memories

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          Abstract

          The present study is the first to examine the specificity of learning processes underlying adaption of long-term priors while also examining the ability to form sensorimotor memories for multiple sets of objects simultaneously. In a follow-up study, we directly test the hypothesis that sensorimotor memory involves explicit working memory resources .

          Abstract

          When lifting an object, individuals scale lifting forces based on long-term priors relating external object properties (such as material and size) to object weight. When experiencing objects that are poorly predicted by priors, people rapidly form and update sensorimotor memories that can be used to predict an object's atypical size-weight relation in support of predictively scaling lift forces. With extensive experience in lifting such objects, long-term priors, assessed with weight judgments, are gradually updated. The aim of the present study was to understand the formation and updating of these memory processes. Participants lifted, over multiple days, a set of black cubes with a normal size-weight mapping and green cubes with an inverse size-weight mapping. Sensorimotor memory was assessed with lifting forces, and priors associated with the black and green cubes were assessed with the size-weight illusion (SWI). Interference was observed in terms of adaptation of the SWI, indicating that priors were not independently adjusted. Half of the participants rapidly learned to scale lift forces appropriately, whereas reduced learning was observed in the others, suggesting that individual differences may be affecting sensorimotor memory abilities. A follow-up experiment showed that lifting forces are not accurately scaled to objects when concurrently performing a visuomotor association task, suggesting that sensorimotor memory formation involves cognitive resources to instantiate the mapping between object identity and weight, potentially explaining the results of experiment 1. These results provide novel insight into the formation and updating of sensorimotor memories and provide support for the independent adjustment of sensorimotor memory and priors.

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          Author and article information

          Journal
          J Neurophysiol
          J. Neurophysiol
          jn
          jn
          JN
          Journal of Neurophysiology
          American Physiological Society (Bethesda, MD )
          0022-3077
          1522-1598
          6 July 2016
          1 October 2016
          1 October 2017
          : 116
          : 4
          : 1615-1625
          Affiliations
          [1] 1Centre for Neuroscience Studies, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada;
          [2] 2Physiology Section, Department of Integrative Medical Biology, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden; and
          [3] 3Department of Psychology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
          Author notes
          Address for reprint requests and other correspondence: J. R. Flanagan, Dept. of Psychology, Queen's Univ., Kingston, ON K7L 3N6, Canada (e-mail: flanagan@ 123456queensu.ca ).
          Article
          PMC5144702 PMC5144702 5144702 JN-00282-2016
          10.1152/jn.00282.2016
          5144702
          27385795
          dd353b00-c115-471a-897b-737c43eb5fa8
          Copyright © 2016 the American Physiological Society
          History
          : 6 April 2016
          : 6 July 2016
          Funding
          Funded by: http://doi.org/10.13039/501100000038 Gouvernement du Canada | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (Conseil de Recherches en Sciences Naturelles et en Génie du Canada)
          Funded by: http://doi.org/10.13039/501100000024 Gouvernement du Canada | Canadian Institutes of Health Research (Instituts de recherche en santé du Canada)
          Categories
          Higher Neural Functions and Behavior

          weight prediction,sensorimotor memory,sensorimotor integration,object lifting

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