The Subject: A Neglected Factor in Recombination Research

Abstract

Individual differences in adaptability to visual rearrangement have typically been ignored as a subject of investigation. However, it is clear that there is marked variability among subjects in terms of the extent to which they adapt, and possibly the form in which their adaptation takes. The present investigation examined the different ways in which subjects respond to the same experimental demands in a prism-adaptation experiment. Furthermore, a number of relevant ‘perceptual traits’ (for example the ability to fixate a visual target) were measured and found to correlate, in varying degrees, with adaptation. In general, the conclusion drawn from the latter results was that subjects who have relatively good control over their eye movements and fixations will reveal adaptation in terms mostly of the felt position of the exposed limb; subjects with relatively good control over their limb movements will adapt more in terms of their vision and hence will demonstrate a significant degree of intermanual transfer.