Effector-specific sequence learning

Joachim Hoffmann, Michael Berner, Dr. Wladimir Kirsch

DFG HO 1301/12-1, 12-2
"Der Erwerb körpereigenen Sequenzwissens beim Training bimanueller Handlungsfolgen"
[The acquisition of embodied sequence knowledge when practicing bimanual action sequences]

Research on sequence learning, that is, on the ability to adapt one’s behavior to regularities in the sequence of stimuli and actions, has flourished in the past two decades. One of the central issues addressed is the nature of the memory representation (i.e., sequence knowledge) acquired through sequence learning. In other words, what exactly is being learned during sequence learning: a sequence of stimuli, a sequence of responses, or both? In fact, evidence exists for each of these possibilities. In particular, it has been shown that regularities in the order of responses contribute to sequence learning independently of regularities in the sequence of stimuli. However, whether knowledge about a sequence of actions is represented exclusively as knowledge about a sequence of behavioral goals to be achieved or additionally in the form of knowledge about a sequence of appropriate motor commands is still unresolved.

A fact which is related to this issue but has received surprisingly little attention so far is that sequential actions oftentimes involve multiple effectors which are used in concert to produce a common effect. For example, both the fingers of the left hand and the fingers of the right hand are usually involved in playing a song on the piano. Likewise, different effectors are sometimes used for executing separate action sequences in parallel. This is the case, for example, when dancing while singing which involves the execution of a sequence of leg and arm movements concurrently with the execution of certain movements of the vocal chords and of parts of the vocal tract in a particular order.

The aim of this research project is to investigate whether at all and if so to what extent knowledge about effector-specific components of such multi-effector sequential actions is acquired and represented independently for the involved effectors, that is, in an effector-dependent manner so that it is not transferable from the effector used during learning to another effector. Furthermore, the project explores which conditions are conducive to the acquisition of effector specific sequence knowledge.

 

• Kirsch, W. & Hoffmann, J. (in press). Asymmetrical intermanual transfer of learning in a sensorimotor task. Exp. Brain Res.

• Berner, M. P., & Hoffmann, J. (2009). Sequence Learning in Serial Reaction Time Tasks: Integrated and Independent Learning of Hand-Related Constituent Sequences. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 35, 890-904.

• Berner, M. P., & Hoffmann, J. (2008). Effector-related sequence learning in a bimanual-bisequential serial reaction time task. Psychological Research, 72, 138-154.
  

Updated: 02.03.2010