Conceptualization of task boundaries preserves implicit sequence learning under dual-task conditions
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BRIEF REPORT
Conceptualization of task boundaries preserves implicit sequence learning under dual-task conditions Kimberly M. Halvorson & Tana Truelove Wagschal & Eliot Hazeltine
# Psychonomic Society, Inc. 2013
Abstract Implicit learning in the serial reaction time (SRT) task is sometimes disrupted by the presence of a secondary distractor task (e.g., Schumacher & Schwarb Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 138:270–290, 2009) and at other times is not (e.g., Cohen, Ivry, & Keele Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 16:17–30, 1990). In the present study, we used an instructional manipulation to investigate how participants’ conceptualizations of the task affect sequence learning under dual-task conditions. Two experimental groups differed only in terms of the instructions and presequence training. One group was instructed that they were completing two separate tasks, whereas the other group was instructed that they were performing a single, integrated task. The separate group showed sequence learning, while the integrated group did not. These findings suggest that the conceptualization of task boundaries affects the availability of the sequential information necessary for implicit learning.
among the steps of a task, irrelevant events may make it difficult to abstract the task-related information. For example, when baking a cake, we must learn to follow certain steps in the same order each time (e.g., softening the butter, cracking the egg, and blending). Not only is it important that performance be stable in the face of interruption, but learning should be robust; that is, it should not be more difficult to bake the cake the next time in a different environment with different intervening events. Thus, discriminating between events that relate to a task and those that are irrelevant would facilitate learning and its transfer to novel task settings. A widely used task for studying sequence learning is the serial reaction-time (SRT) task (Nissen & Bullemer, 1987), which requires participants to make a series of speeded choice-RT responses. During training, the stimuli are presented in a repeating sequence, but participants are not informed of the sequence. Nonetheless, the sequence is learned, as measured by increased RTs when the stimuli appear in a random order (Nissen & Bullemer, 1987).
Keywords Implicit sequence learning . Task representation . Dual-task performance
How do secondary tasks affect sequence learning?
Humans have a remarkable ability to perform new multistep tasks. Learning such tasks can be challenging not only because of their complexity, but also because they are acquired in settings where there may be distraction and interruption. For a system attempting to encode relationships Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.3758/s13423-013-0409-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. K. M. Halvorson (*) : T. T. Wagschal : E. Hazeltine E11 Seashore Hall, Department of Psychology, Univers
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