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| Research article summary (published 30 May 2003): |
Evidence for lasting sequence segmentation in the discrete sequence-production task.
Full Abstract
It is well known that movement sequences are initiated and executed more slowly as they become longer. Those effects of sequence length, which have been found to lessen with practice, have been attributed to the development of a single motor chunk that represents the entire sequence. But an increasingly efficient distribution of programming can also explain the effects. To examine the mechanisms underlying skill in executing keying sequences, the authors examined the performance of participants (N = 18) who practiced a discrete sequence-production task involving fixed sequences of 3 and 6 key presses. Detailed examination of the effects of extensive practice, of regularities in key pressing order, and of a preceding choice RT task on the production of those sequences showed that most participants executed the 6-key sequence as 2 or more successive segments and continued to do so in the various conditions. The preceding choice RT task restored the sequence-length effect in latency that had disappeared with practice. The present results suggest that practice induces the development of motor chunks, each representing a short segment, and with longer sequences a control scheme for concatenating the motor chunks. Segmentation of longer sequences appeared to be concealed by individual segmentation differences unless there were regularities that imposed a common segmentation pattern.
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Author information
Author/s: Verwey, William B (WB); Eikelboom, Teun (T);
Affiliation: Faculty of Behavioral Sciences, Department of Instrument Technology, University of Twente, P.O. Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands. Verwey@edte.utwente.nl
Journal and publication information
Publication Type: Journal Article
Journal: Journal of motor behavior (J Mot Behav), published in United States. (Language: eng)
Reference: 2003-Jun; vol 35 (issue 2) : pp 171-81
Dates: Created 2003/04/24; Completed 2003/09/09; Revised 2004/11/17;
PMID: 12711587, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)
Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.
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