Cursor direction was influenced both by implicit control (adaptation to visuomotor rotation) and explicit control processes (target selection based on the one-back rule).
In the first case, the action of reaching for the light switch is thought to be guided by implicit control, which is abstract and unavailable to consciousness [1], [2], [3], [4], and which is typically engaged in "automatic" movements, such as steering a car.
The OB+ROT condition thus involved dual control of a single sensorimotor behavior by parallel explicit and implicit control processes.
We tested human subjects' ability to segregate sensorimotor signals to parallel control processes by requiring dual (explicit and implicit) control of the same reaching movement and testing for interference between these processes.
A mysterious Indian in the local drugstore offers little Miles a Wendigo figure carved from an antler, giving the boy implicit control over its destructive powers.
Explicit control may be engaged when learning a new movement, while implicit control enables simultaneous execution of multiple actions.
Although the dual-control task did not impose specific constraints on timing of the two control processes, the lack of interference is unlikely to be explained by sequential engagement of explicit and implicit control.
Explicit control is usually invoked when first learning a new motor skill, while implicit control characterizes movements after they have been fully learned [5], [6].
A self controlled case series, having implicit control for time invariant covariates, was additionally conducted.
Therefore, when we explicitly control a movement that we could otherwise perform automatically, implicit control processes may continue to influence movement.
