The influence of previous experience on predictive motor control.

Anticipating the consequences of our motor commands is a fundamental component of sensorimotor control. For example, when one hand pulls on an object held in the other, the restraining hand generates an anticipatory increase in grip force thereby preventing the object from slipping. To investigate how such anticipation is learned subjects held an object, whose properties were under computer control, between their hands. This allowed instant changes in the behaviour of the manipulated object on a trial by trial basis. The extent of grip force modulation seen in one hand, when the other pulled on the object was found to depend in a systematic way on the object's properties experienced over at least the previous three trials.