Acquisition of Effector-Specific and Effector-Independent Components of Sequencing Skill

In a serial reaction time task, participants practiced a repeating sequence with 1 hand. In interleaved blocks, they responded to random sequences with the other hand. Experiment 1 was composed of 5 sessions, each consisting of 30 blocks. Intermanual transfer, reflecting a hand-independent component...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of motor behavior 2009-01, Vol.41 (1), p.30-44
Main Authors: Berner, Michael P., Hoffman, Joachim
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
effector proficiency
effector specificity
Experiments
Feedback (Response)
Functional Laterality
Hand - physiology
Hands
Humans
intermanual transfer
Learning
Motor Skills
Optimization
Practice (Psychology)
Reaction Time
Repetition
sequence learning
skill acquisition
Skill Development
Stimuli
Studies
Transfer (Psychology)
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Description
Summary:In a serial reaction time task, participants practiced a repeating sequence with 1 hand. In interleaved blocks, they responded to random sequences with the other hand. Experiment 1 was composed of 5 sessions, each consisting of 30 blocks. Intermanual transfer, reflecting a hand-independent component of sequence knowledge, increased across session. A smaller but significant, nontransferable, and hand-specific component was evident in each session and did not increase with practice. Experiment 2 comprised only 1 session. Uninterrupted practice (no interleaved random blocks) improved hand-independent sequence learning in comparison with interrupted practice (as implemented in Experiment 1), whereas hand-specific sequence learning was unaffected by this between-subjects manipulation. These findings suggest separate mechanisms for effector-independent sequence learning and effector-specific acquisition of optimized response coarticulation.
ISSN:0022-2895
1940-1027
DOI:10.1080/00222895.2009.10125918