The serial reaction time task revisited: a study on motor sequence learning with an arm-reaching task
- 23 December 2008
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in Experimental Brain Research
- Vol. 194 (1), 143-155
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-008-1681-5
Abstract
With a series of novel arm-reaching tasks, we have shown that visuomotor sequence learning encompasses the acquisition of the order of sequence elements, and the ability to combine them in a single, skilled behavior. The first component, which is mostly declarative, is reflected by changes in movement onset time (OT); the second, which occurs without subject’s awareness, is measured by changes in kinematic variables, including movement time (MT). Key-press-based serial reaction time tasks (SRTT) have been used to investigate sequence learning and results interpreted as indicative of the implicit acquisition of the sequence order. One limitation to SRT studies, however, is that only one measure is used, the response time, the sum of OT and MT: this makes interpretation of which component is learnt difficult and disambiguation of implicit and explicit processes problematic. Here, we used an arm-reaching version of SRTT to propose a novel interpretation of such results. The pattern of response time changes we obtained was similar to the key-press-based tasks. However, there were significant differences between OT and MT, suggesting that both partial learning of the sequence order and skill improvement took place. Further analyses indicated that the learning of the sequence order might not occur without subjects’ awareness.This publication has 23 references indexed in Scilit:
- Learning of a Sequential Motor Skill Comprises Explicit and Implicit Components That Consolidate DifferentlyJournal of Neurophysiology, 2009
- Implicit and explicit aspects of sequence learning in pre-symptomatic Huntington's diseaseParkinsonism & Related Disorders, 2008
- Short-Term Limb Immobilization Affects Motor PerformanceJournal of Motor Behavior, 2008
- The Serial Reaction Time Task: Implicit Motor Skill Learning?: Figure 1.Journal of Neuroscience, 2007
- Arm immobilization causes cortical plastic changes and locally decreases sleep slow wave activityNature Neuroscience, 2006
- An fMRI Study of the Role of the Medial Temporal Lobe in Implicit and Explicit Sequence LearningNeuron, 2003
- Patterns of Interference in Sequence Learning and Prism Adaptation Inconsistent With the Consolidation HypothesisLearning & Memory, 2002
- Can sequence learning be implicit? New evidence with the process dissociation procedurePsychonomic Bulletin & Review, 2001
- On the development of procedural knowledge.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 1989
- Attentional requirements of learning: Evidence from performance measuresCognitive Psychology, 1987