Variable errors suppress implicit motor adaptation among older adults

Consistent error direction in an error-clamp visuomotor adaptation task elicits enhanced implicit adaptation in older adults, whereas variable errors do not.

• Why it matters: Age-related hyper-adaptation in implicit motor learning appears inconsistent across perturbation types, implying that properties of the error signal—especially variability—may gate learning.
• What they did: Younger and older adults performed an error-clamp visuomotor adaptation task while the consistency of error direction was manipulated to create consistent versus variable error conditions.
• The result: Older adults showed greater implicit adaptation than younger controls only under consistent errors; variable errors suppressed this age-related enhancement, indicating error consistency is required for implicit hyper-adaptation.

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