Figure 1. Study design and task overview with feedback conditions.

(A) We recruited two separate groups of patients with stroke; one at the subacute stage (≤2 months, early group) and another one in the chronic period (≥6 months, late group). At the first time point (T1) participants were tested in two different motor learning tasks, a reinforcement-based motor task that relies predominantly on corticomotor-basal ganglia loops and a visuomotor error-based task that relies mostly on error-based learning processes driven by cerebellar plasticity. (B & D) In the reinforcement task no cursor feedback was provided, instead participants received only binary feedback about task success or failure if their reaches fell between the mean of the participant’s previous 10 reaches and the outer bound of the reward zone to −15°. (C & E) In the error-based learning task participants received online feedback on the cursor trajectory. After the baseline 40- trial period, a visuomotor rotation of 1 degree was imposed, and kept increasing by 2 degrees every 20 trials. Reward zone in both tasks is marked in light orange. To assess learning we compared Baseline and End perturbation trials (first and last 40 trials of task). After a baseline period to familiarize participants with the task, cursor rotation was gradually introduced until −15° in the error-based task. Within both groups clockwise or counter-clockwise rotation was counterbalanced, but later flipped for analysis. Image adapted after Therrien et al., 2016.