Mechanisms of proprioceptive realignment in human motor learning

Adaptation is a form of motor learning that alters movement in response to a predictable perturbation to the body or environment. This process can also realign or bias proprioception of the adapted movement. Here, we discuss recent work on two mechanisms that are suggested to underlie proprioceptive realignment following motor learning: a sensory mechanism that hinges on mismatches between estimates of limb state across sensory modalities, and a motor mechanism driven by the recalibration of sensory predictions of movement. We review work focused on normal behavior, neuroimaging studies and assessments of neurologic patients suggesting that motor systems, such as the cerebellum, and sensory association systems, such as somatosensory and posterior parietal cortices, may play a role in proprioceptive realignment.