Integrated and independent learning of hand-related constituent sequences.

Full Abstract

In almost all daily activities fingers of both hands are used in coordinated succession. The present experiments explored whether learning in such tasks pertains not only to the overall sequence spanning both hands but also to the constituent sequences of each hand. In a serial reaction time task, 2 repeating hand-related sequences were intertwined, so that actions of one hand alternated with actions of the other hand. Integrated learning of the overall sequence was weak when the constituent sequences were uncorrelated (Experiment 1) and massive when they were correlated (Experiment 2). Both experiments yielded evidence suggesting partly independent learning of the hand-related sequences. There were no reliable indications of intermanual transfer of this hand-related sequence knowledge. The findings suggest that after sufficient training of coordinated action sequences involving several limbs, a part of the acquired sequence knowledge begins to be represented in an effector-specific manner.

Author information

Author/s: Berner, Michael P (MP); Hoffmann, Joachim (J);

Affiliation: Institut Psychologie III, Universität Würzburg, Würzburg D-97070, Germany. berner(-atsign-)psychologie.uni-wuerzburg.de

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition (J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2009-Jul; vol 35 (issue 4) : pp 890-904

Dates: Created 2009/07/09; Completed 2009/08/25;

PMID: 19586259, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 8/25/2009, IMS Date: )

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