Explicit Instruction May Impair the Transfer of Motor Adaptation in an Upper Extremity Motor Task

This study focused on explicit instruction and evaluated the differences in task performance between participants who were instructed to employ the change and those who were not. Ninety-three healthy young adults were assigned to the accurate information group (AG; n = 31), misinformation group (MG; n = 31), and non-information group (NG; n = 31). All participants manipulated a mouse to track a moving target on a screen with a cursor. The cursor was rotated to 60 degrees in the clockwise direction from the actual mouse position during the 1st to 5th blocks (i.e., motor adaptation task). Subsequently, in the 6th block (i.e., transfer task), we gradually changed the angle of rotation from 60 degrees to 80 degrees to prevent from noticing the change. Participants in the AG were instructed accurate experimental information. Participants in the MG were instructed that the angle of rotation was 60 degrees during the 1st to 6th blocks. Participants in the NG were instructed to manipulate the cursor movement only. The results indicated that an average error distance in the AG was significantly lower than that in the NG in the 6th block. This study suggested that explicit instruction may impair the transfer of motor adaptation in this setting.