Prism Adaptation to Moving and Stationary Target Exposures

The magnitude of proprioceptive adaptation and visual adaptation to prism displacement was assessed for various target conditions during either observed, active or passive arm movements. Active arm movement was found superior to passive arm movement in the production of proprioceptive aftereffects and visual aftereffects. In addition, observation of a stationary target or a moving target during prism exposure produced significant proprioceptive adaptation for a passive arm viewing condition while enhancing such adaptation magnitude for an active arm movement situation. With no target present during prism exposure, significant proprioceptive adaptation was only found with active movement. The greatest visual aftereffect was produced when a moving target was observed during prism exposure. The results are interpreted in terms of an information-availability model of perceptual adaptation.