Acquisition of Effector-Specific and Effector-Independent Components of Sequencing Skill |
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Authors: | Michael P. Berner Joachim Hoffman |
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Affiliation: | Department of Psychology, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany |
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Abstract: | 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. |
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Keywords: | effector proficiency effector specificity intermanual transfer sequence learning skill acquisition |
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