The Build-Up Course of Visuo-Motor and Audio-Motor Temporal Recalibration

Abstract

The sensorimotor timing is recalibrated after a brief exposure to a delayed feedback of voluntary actions (temporal recalibration effect: TRE) (Heron et al., 2009; Stetson et al., 2006; Sugano et al., 2010). We introduce a new paradigm, namely ‘synchronous tapping’ (ST) which allows us to investigate how the TRE builds up during adaptation. In each experimental trial, participants were repeatedly exposed to a constant lag (∼150 ms) between their voluntary action (pressing a mouse) and a feedback stimulus (a visual flash / an auditory click) 10 times. Immediately after that, they performed a ST task with the same stimulus as a pace signal (7 flashes / clicks). A subjective ‘no-delay condition’ (∼50 ms) served as control. The TRE manifested itself as a change in the tap-stimulus asynchrony that compensated the exposed lag (eg, after lag adaptation, the tap preceded the stimulus more than in control) and built up quickly (∼3–6 trials, ∼23–45 sec) in both the visuo- and audio-motor domain. The audio-motor TRE was bigger and built-up faster than the visuo-motor one. To conclude, the TRE is comparable between visuo- and audio-motor domain, though they are slightly different in size and build-up rate.