Necessary and sufficient conditions for implicit sequence learning: Evidence from a task sequence learning paradigm, by Beat Meier, University of Bern, Switzerland

old_uid17786
titleNecessary and sufficient conditions for implicit sequence learning: Evidence from a task sequence learning paradigm, by Beat Meier, University of Bern, Switzerland
start_date2019/09/13
schedule11h
onlineno
summaryMany of the tasks performed in everyday life are organized in sequences. Although people are often not aware of these sequential regularities, they profit from them. To study incidental learning of this kind experimentally, a serial reaction time task is generally used. In this paradigm, a sequence of correct response-key presses follows the sequence of designated target locations. Unbeknownst to participants, the order of target locations is determined by a repeating sequence. With practice, performance gets faster. When the sequence is switched to random, performance is slowed again. These changes are usually taken as evidence of incidental sequence learning. Although there has been considerable effort to explain what kind of mental representation drives incidental sequence learning, there is still no consensus on what is involved. This may be related to the fact that there is an inevitable correlation (i.e., isomorphism) between the sequence of locations at which the stimulus appears and the sequence of motor responses that the participant must take. Similarly, when sequences of tasks are performed in everyday life, typically the sequences consist of correlated streams of information, often sequences of stimuli and responses. In fact, the correlation of two streams of information may provide the basis on which incidental sequence learning rests. With a task sequence learning paradigm it is possible to disentangle this correlation. I will present a series of Experiments using the task sequence learning paradigm to investigate this hypothesis. In general, the results indicate the importance of correlated streams of information.
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