Cognitive Strategies Under Rotary Constraints in Sensorimotor Learning

Abstract

Sensorimotor learning involves the dynamic interplay between implicit recalibration and explicit strategic control. While prior work has distinguished between cognitive strategies such as mental rotation (MR) and response caching (RC), it remains unclear how task structure shapes their engagement during adaptation. This study examined how target set size and perturbation schedule influence strategy use in a visuomotor rotation task. Eighty-five participants performed center-out reaching movements under conditions varying in the number of target locations (2 vs. 12) and the rotation schedule (abrupt vs. gradual). Response times and movement angles were analyzed across distinct learning phases. As predicted, low set size conditions exhibited substantial reductions in response time across training, consistent with a shift from MR to RC strategies. High set size conditions maintained elevated response times, suggesting sustained reliance on parametric computation. All groups improved in movement accuracy over time; however, larger aftereffects were observed in the low set size groups, aligning with use-dependent learning. Rotation schedule had comparatively smaller effects on both response times and accuracy. These findings underscore the role of environmental structure in guiding cognitive strategy selection during motor adaptation and suggest implications for optimizing performance in applied settings such as neurorehabilitation and brain-machine interface design.