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Abstract:
Abstract: We examined the possibility that neural-structural
changes continue to evolve after initial practice, in two forms of
perceptual-motor sequence learning. During an initial training
phase, participants typed visually-presented four-digit numeric
sequences into a keypad. All training sequences were formed from a
transition rule that determined which digits could follow others
within the sequences (e.g., a 5 could be followed by a 1, 2, 3, or
6, but not by a 4, 7, 8, or 9), and one subset of these training
sequences was presented and typed multiple times. The test phase
occurred either immediately after or 48 hours after initial
training. During test, participants typed new sequences that
followed the rule opposite that used to create the training
sequences (e.g., a 5 could be followed by a 4, 7, 8, or 9, but not
by a 1, 2, 3, or 6), new sequences that followed the rule used to
create training sequences, and the same sequences that were
processed repeatedly during training. General-regularity learning
(faster typing of old-rule than new-rule sequences) occurred for
participants tested immediately after and for those tested 48 hours
after training. However, specific-sequence learning (differential
typing speed for repeated sequences compared with new sequences
following the old rule) occurred for participants tested 48 hours
after but not for those tested immediately after training. We
suggest that dissociable subsystems underlie general-regularity and
specific-sequence learning, and the latter requires
consolidation.
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