Experimentally, a typical adaptation task consists of three phases:
(1) baseline phase with normal sensory feedback of the
hand movements;
(2) adaptation/learning phase (i.e., distorted trials) where the sensory feedback of the hand movement is
changed, and participants have to adaptively adjust their movement to compensate for the changed environment; and
(3)
post-adaptation/learning phase where the sensory feedback of the hand movement is returned to normal.
Successful learning can be measured by the presence of an after effect wherein participants make errors in the opposite direction of the
distorted trials during the third phase