Motor Learning and Adaptation of Motor Actions

A fundamental problem in motor learning theory concerns the nature of the corrective feedback available to the learner. In many motor learning problems, the learner does not directly receive corrective information in terms of motor command errors. Rather, the desired behavior is specified in terms of the outcome of movement as assessed by various sensors. To overcome this problem, recent research in motor learning and adaptation has focused on the usefulness of internal models. I will review some of the current literature debating the existence of inverse and forward models and their nature and importance for motor learning and adaptation. I will also discuss the learning of motor sequences, the idea that motor learning may involve the building of and/or tuning a repertoire composed of new primitives and the importance of practice for the generalization and transfer of motor learning. Finally, I shall discuss recent findings on the role of sleep in motor learning and consolidation.