Tonic feedback motor commands predict visuomotor learning

Abstract When a movement error occurs, the motor system updates its commands to improve performance on subsequent trials. A prominent feedback error learning hypothesis proposes that the feedback response that corrects movement within a trial serves as a teaching signal for the learning response, observed as changes in motor commands on the next trial. However, how the temporal pattern of the feedback response influences the learning response remains unclear. Here, we introduce an experimental paradigm that directly compares the temporal patterns of feedback and learning responses across different patterns of visual error. We show that although the feedback response closely tracks the temporal pattern of the visual error, this temporal pattern is not transferred to the learning response. Instead, the amplitude of the feedback response during the holding period, which reflects the temporal history of the visual error, strongly predicts the magnitude of the learning response. These findings suggest that information reflected in the tonic component of feedback responses is closely linked to the scaling of subsequent motor-command updates. Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. Footnotes We have revised the manuscript to clarify the causal interpretation of the relationship between the feedback response and the learning response. Causal language has been toned down throughout the title, abstract, Results, and Discussion. The tonic feedback response is now described primarily as a strong predictor of the learning response rather than as a definitive causal driver.