Asymmetric adaptation with functional advantage in human sensorimotor control

Human movement control is inherently stochastic, requiring continuous estimation of self-motion based upon noisy sensory inputs. The nervous system must determine which sensory signals are relevant on a time scale that enables successful behavior. In human stance control, failure to effectively adapt to changing sensory contexts could lead to injurious falls. Nonlinear changes in postural sway amplitude in response to changes in sensory environmental motion have indicated a dynamic changing of the weighting of the nervous system’s multiple sensory inputs so that estimates are based upon the most relevant and accurate information available. However, the time scale of these changes is virtually unknown. Results here show systematic changes in postural gain when visual scene motion amplitude is increased or decreased abruptly, consistent with sensory re-weighting. However, this re-weighting displayed a temporal asymmetry. When visual motion increased, gain decreased within 5 s to a value near its asymptotic value. In contrast, when visual motion decreased, it took an additional 5 s for gain to increase by a similar absolute amount. Suddenly increasing visual motion amplitude threatens balance if gain remains high, and rapid down-weighting of the sensory signal is required to avoid falling. By contrast, slow up-weighting suggests a conservative CNS strategy. It may not be functional to rapidly up-weight with transient changes in the sensory environment. Only sustained changes necessitate the slower up-weighting process. Such results add to our understanding of adaptive processing, identifying a temporal asymmetry in sensory re-weighting dynamics that could be a general property of adaptive estimation in the nervous system.