A rapid visuomotor response on the human upper limb is selectively influenced by implicit motor learning.

How do humans learn to adapt their motor actions to achieve task success? Recent behavioral and patient studies have challenged the classic notion that motor learning arises solely from the errors produced during a task, suggesting instead that explicit cognitive strategies can act in concert with the implicit, error-based, motor learning component. In this study, we show that the earliest wave of directionally tuned neuromuscular activity that begins within ~100 ms of peripheral visual stimulus onset is selectively influenced by the implicit component of motor learning. In contrast, the voluntary neuromuscular activity associated with reach initiation, which evolves ~100-200 ms later, is influenced by both the implicit and explicit components of motor learning. The selective influence of the implicit, but not explicit, component of motor learning on the directional tuning of the earliest cascade of neuromuscular activity supports the notion that these components of motor learning can differentially influence descending motor pathways. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Motor learning can be driven both by an implicit error-based component and an explicit strategic component, but the influence of these components on the descending pathways that contribute to motor control is unknown. In this study, we show that the implicit component selectively influences a reflexive circuit that rapidly generates a visuomotor response on the human upper limb. Our results show that the substrates mediating implicit and explicit motor learning exert distinct influences on descending motor pathways.