Evidence for chunking vs. statistical learning in motor sequence production

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicola J. Popp ◽  
Neda Kordjaz ◽  
Paul Gribble ◽  
Jörn Diedrichsen
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Learning ◽  
Motor Sequence ◽  
Sequence Production

scholarly journals The effects of habits on motor skill learning

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicola J. Popp ◽  
Atsushi Yokoi ◽  
Paul L. Gribble ◽  
Jörn Diedrichsen
Keyword(s):  
Athletic Training ◽  
Motor Skill ◽  
Habit Formation ◽  
Motor Pattern ◽  
Performance Outcomes ◽  
Skill Learning ◽  
Training Period ◽  
Production Task ◽  
Motor Sequence ◽  
Sequence Production

AbstractSkill learning involves the formation of stable motor patterns. In musical and athletic training, however, these stable motor habits can also impede the attainment of higher levels of performance. We developed an experimental paradigm to induce a specific motor pattern in the context of a discrete sequence production task and to investigate how these habits affect performance over a 3-week training period. Participants initially practiced small segments of 2 to 3 finger movements (“chunks”) and then learned longer sequences composed of these chunks. This initial training induced a persistent temporal pattern during execution, with shorter inter-press-intervals within a chunk and longer ones at chunk boundaries. This pattern remained stable during the subsequent 10 days of training, in which participants were asked to produce the sequence as fast as possible from memory. The habit was also preserved when the sequences were directly displayed, removing the need for memory recall. We were able to induce chunking patterns that were either beneficial or detrimental to performance by taking into consideration the biomechanical constraints of the sequences. While we observed an overall reduction in the detrimental effect of the disadvantageous chunking instructions with training, our results show that the degree to which these detrimental chunk structures were maintained, was predictive of lower levels of final performance. In sum, we were able to induce beneficial and detrimental motor habits in a motor sequence production task and show that these initial instructions influenced performance outcomes over a prolonged period of time.Significance StatementA habit is defined as an automatized action that resists modification once sufficiently established. Preventing bad habits, while reinforcing good habits, is a key objective when teaching new motor skills. While habit formation is an integral part of motor skill acquisition, previous research has focused on habit formation in terms of action selection. In this paper, we examine habit formation in terms of motor skill execution, after the action has been selected. We were able to induce beneficial or detrimental motor habits in the production of motor sequences. Habits were stable over a prolonged training period. Our results demonstrate how cognitive instruction can lead to persistent motor habits and we explore how these habits are potentially modified with training.

scholarly journals Sequence learning is driven by improvements in motor planning

2019 ◽  
Vol 121 (6) ◽  
pp. 2088-2100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giacomo Ariani ◽  
Jörn Diedrichsen
Keyword(s):  
Sequence Learning ◽  
Forced Response ◽  
Learning Effects ◽  
Production Task ◽  
Motor Execution ◽  
Motor Sequence ◽  
Single Action ◽  
Online Planning ◽  
Sequence Production ◽  
Planning Processes

The ability to perform complex sequences of movements quickly and accurately is critical for many motor skills. Although training improves performance in a large variety of motor sequence tasks, the precise mechanisms behind such improvements are poorly understood. Here we investigated the contribution of single-action selection, sequence preplanning, online planning, and motor execution to performance in a discrete sequence production task. Five visually presented numbers cued a sequence of five finger presses, which had to be executed as quickly and accurately as possible. To study how sequence planning influenced sequence production, we manipulated the amount of time that participants were given to prepare each sequence by using a forced-response paradigm. Over 4 days, participants were trained on 10 sequences and tested on 80 novel sequences. Our results revealed that participants became faster in selecting individual finger presses. They also preplanned three or four sequence items into the future, and the speed of preplanning improved for trained, but not for untrained, sequences. Because preplanning capacity remained limited, the remaining sequence elements had to be planned online during sequence execution, a process that also improved with sequence-specific training. Overall, our results support the view that motor sequence learning effects are best characterized by improvements in planning processes that occur both before and concurrently with motor execution. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Complex skills often require the production of sequential movements. Although practice improves performance, it remains unclear how these improvements are achieved. Our findings show that learning effects in a sequence production task can be attributed to an enhanced ability to plan upcoming movements. These results shed new light on planning processes in the context of movement sequences and have important implications for our understanding of the neural mechanisms that underlie skill acquisition.

scholarly journals Sequence learning is driven by improvements in motor planning

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giacomo Ariani ◽  
Jörn Diedrichsen
Keyword(s):  
Skill Acquisition ◽  
Sequence Learning ◽  
Forced Response ◽  
Learning Effects ◽  
Motor Execution ◽  
Motor Sequence ◽  
Single Action ◽  
Online Planning ◽  
Sequence Production ◽  
Planning Processes

AbstractThe ability to perform complex sequences of movements quickly and accurately is critical for many motor skills. While training improves performance in a large variety of motor-sequence tasks, the precise mechanisms behind such improvements are poorly understood. Here we investigated the contribution of single-action selection, sequence pre-planning, online planning, and motor execution to performance in a discrete sequence production (DSP) task. Five visually-presented numbers cued a sequence of five finger presses, which had to be executed as quickly and accurately as possible. To study how sequence planning influenced sequence production, we manipulated the amount of time that participants were given to prepare each sequence by using a forced-response paradigm. Over 4 days, participants were trained on 10 sequences and tested on 80 novel sequences. Our results revealed that participants became faster in selecting individual finger presses. They also preplanned 3-4 sequence items into the future, and the speed of pre-planning improved for trained, but not for untrained, sequences. Because pre-planning capacity remained limited, the remaining sequence elements had to be planned online during sequence execution, a process that also improved with sequence-specific training. Overall, our results support the view that motor sequence learning effects are best characterized by improvements in planning processes that occur both before and concurrently with motor execution.New & NoteworthyComplex skills often require the production of sequential movements. While practice improves performance, it remains unclear how these improvements are achieved. Our findings show that learning effects in a sequence production task can be attributed to an enhanced ability to plan upcoming movements. These results shed new light on planning processes in the context of movement sequences, and have important implications for our understanding of the neural mechanisms that underlie skill acquisition.

scholarly journals A multi-representation approach to the contextual interference effect: effects of sequence length and practice

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Willem B. Verwey ◽  
David L. Wright ◽  
Maarten A. Immink
Keyword(s):  
Motor Behavior ◽  
Contextual Interference ◽  
Sequence Length ◽  
Retention Performance ◽  
Motor Sequence ◽  
Cognitive Framework ◽  
Sequence Production ◽  
Extended Practice ◽  
Implicit And Explicit

AbstractThe present study investigated the long-term benefit of Random-Practice (RP) over Blocked-Practice (BP) within the contextual interference (CI) effect for motor learning. We addressed the extent to which motor sequence length and practice amount factors moderate the CI effect given that previous reports, often in applied research, have reported no long-term advantage from RP. Based on predictions arising from the Cognitive framework of Sequential Motor Behavior (C-SMB) and using the Discrete Sequence Production (DSP) task, two experiments were conducted to compare limited and extended practice amounts of 4- and 7-key sequences under RP and BP schedules. Twenty-four-hour delayed retention performance confirmed the C-SMB prediction that the CI-effect occurs only with short sequences that receive little practice. The benefit of RP with limited practice was associated with overnight motor memory consolidation. Further testing with single-stimulus as well as novel and unstructured (i.e., random) sequences indicated that limited practice under RP schedules enhances both reaction and chunking modes of sequence execution with the latter mode benefitting from the development of implicit and explicit forms of sequence representation. In the case of 7-key sequences, extended practice with RP and BP schedules provided for equivalent development of sequence representations. Higher explicit awareness of sequence structures was associated with faster completion of practiced but also of novel and unstructured sequences.

scholarly journals Parcellation of motor sequence representations in the human neocortex

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Atsushi Yokoi ◽  
Jörn Diedrichsen
Keyword(s):  
Activity Patterns ◽  
Motor Sequence ◽  
Finger Movements ◽  
Unique Representation ◽  
Human Neocortex ◽  
Model Free ◽  
Sequence Production ◽  
Cortical Regions ◽  
Parietal Cortices

AbstractWhile previous studies have revealed an extended network of cortical regions associated with motor sequence production, the specific role of each of these areas is still elusive. To address this issue, we designed a novel behavioural paradigm that allowed us to experimentally manipulate the structure of motor sequences representations in individual participants. We then conducted fMRI while participants executed 8 trained sequences to examine how this structure is reflected in the associated activity patterns. Both model-based and model-free approaches revealed a clear distinction between primary and non-primary motor cortices in their representational contents, with M1 specifically representing individual finger movements, and premotor and parietal cortices showing a mixture of chunk, sequence and finger transition representations. Using model-free representational parcellation, we could divide these non-primary motor cortices into separate clusters, each with a unique representation along the stimulus-to-action gradient. These results provide new insights into how human neocortex organizes movement sequences.

scholarly journals Competitive state of actions during planning predicts sequence execution accuracy

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Myrto Mantziara ◽  
Tsvetoslav Ivanov ◽  
George Houghton ◽  
Katja Kornysheva
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Structure ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
List Type ◽  
Motor Sequence ◽  
Selection Gradient ◽  
Sequence Planning ◽  
Sequence Production ◽  
Sequence Elements ◽  
Preparation Period ◽  
Competitive Queuing

SummaryHumans can learn and retrieve novel skilled movement sequences from memory, yet the content and structure of sequence planning are not well understood. Previous computational and neurophysiological work suggests that actions in a sequence are planned as parallel graded activations and selected for output through competition (competitive queuing; CQ). However, the relevance of CQ during planning to sequence fluency and accuracy, as opposed to sequence timing, is unclear. To resolve this question, we assessed the competitive state of constituent actions behaviourally during sequence preparation. In three separate multi-session experiments, 55 healthy participants were trained to retrieve and produce 4-finger sequences with particular timing from long-term memory. In addition to sequence production, we evaluated reaction time (RT) and error rate increase to constituent action probes at several points during the preparation period. Our results demonstrate that longer preparation time produces a steeper CQ activation and selection gradient between adjacent sequence elements, whilst no effect was found for sequence speed or temporal structure. Further, participants with a steeper CQ gradient tended to produce correct sequences faster and with a higher temporal accuracy. In a computational model, we hypothesize that the CQ gradient during planning is driven by the width of acquired positional tuning of each sequential item, independently of timing. Our results suggest that competitive activation during sequence planning is established gradually during sequence planning and predicts sequence fluency and accuracy, rather than the speed or temporal structure of the motor sequence.HighlightsPre-ordering of actions during sequence planning can be assessed behaviourallyCompetitive gradient reflects sequence preparedness and skill, but not speed or timingGradient is retrieved rapidly and revealed during automatic action selectionPositional tuning of actions boosts the competitive gradient during planning

scholarly journals Discrepancy between repetition suppression and pattern analysis provides new insights into the role of M1 and parietal areas in sequence learning

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Berlot ◽  
Nicola J. Popp ◽  
Scott T. Grafton ◽  
Jörn Diedrichsen
Keyword(s):  
Sequence Learning ◽  
Primary Motor Cortex ◽  
Pattern Analysis ◽  
Activity Patterns ◽  
Skill Learning ◽  
Multivariate Techniques ◽  
Motor Sequence ◽  
Single Experiment ◽  
Repetition Suppression ◽  
Sequence Production

AbstractHow does the brain change during skill learning? We previously conducted a longitudinal fMRI motor sequence learning study and, using multivariate techniques, found learning-related changes in premotor and parietal areas, but not in the primary motor cortex (M1) (1). However, a study using repetition suppression (RS) had previously suggested that M1 represents learned sequences. Here we replicate this discrepancy in a single experiment, allowing us to investigate the differences between RS and multivariate pattern analysis in detail. We found that the RS effect in M1 and parietal areas reflect fundamentally different processes. M1’s activity represents the starting finger of the sequence, an effect that vanishes with repetition. In contrast, activity patterns in parietal areas exhibit sequence dependency, which persists with repetition. These findings demonstrate that combining RS and pattern analysis can provide novel functional insights, here specifically into the relative contribution of cortical motor areas to sequence production.

scholarly journals Discovering precise temporal patterns in large-scale neural recordings through robust and interpretable time warping

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex H. Williams ◽  
Ben Poole ◽  
Niru Maheswaranathan ◽  
Ashesh K. Dhawale ◽  
Tucker Fisher ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
General Purpose ◽  
Spike Time ◽  
Time Warping ◽  
Motor Sequence ◽  
Temporal Precision ◽  
Neural Recordings ◽  
Sequence Production ◽  
Time Patterns

AbstractThough the temporal precision of neural computation has been studied intensively, a data-driven determination of this precision remains a fundamental challenge. Reproducible spike time patterns may be obscured on single trials by uncontrolled temporal variability in behavior and cognition, or may not even be time locked to measurable signatures in either behavior or local field potentials (LFP). To overcome these challenges, we describe a general-purpose time warping framework that reveals precise spike-time patterns in an unsupervised manner, even when spiking is decoupled from behavior or is temporally stretched across single trials. We demonstrate this method across diverse systems: cued reaching in nonhuman primates, motor sequence production in rats, and olfaction in mice. This approach flexibly uncovers diverse dynamical firing patterns, including pulsatile responses to behavioral events, LFP-aligned oscillatory spiking, and even unanticipated patterns, like 7 Hz oscillations in rat motor cortex that are not time-locked to measured behaviors or LFP.

scholarly journals Chunk concatenation evolves with practice and sleep-related enhancement consolidation in a complex arm movement sequence

2016 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-17
Author(s):  
Klaus Blischke ◽  
Andreas Malangré
Keyword(s):  
Movement Time ◽  
Arm Movement ◽  
Production Costs ◽  
Motor Sequence ◽  
Sequence Element ◽  
Transition Speed ◽  
Sequence Production ◽  
Movement Sequence ◽  
Movement Distance ◽  
Element Movement

AbstractThis paper addresses the notion of chunk concatenation being associated with sleep-related enhancement consolidation of motor sequence memory, thereby essentially contributing to improvements in sequence execution speed. To this end, element movement times of a multi-joint arm movement sequence incorporated in a recent study by Malangré et al. (2014) were reanalyzed. As sequence elements differed with respect to movement distance, element movement times had to be purged from differences solely due to varying trajectory lengths. This was done by dividing each element movement time per subject and trial block by the respective “reference movement time” collected from subjects who had extensively practiced each sequence element in isolation. Any differences in these “relative element movement times” were supposed to reflect element-specific “production costs” imposed solely by the sequence context. Across all subjects non-idiosyncratic, lasting sequence segmentation was shown, and four possible concatenation points (i.e. transition points between successive chunks) within the original arm movement sequence were identified. Based on theoretical suppositions derived from previous work with the discrete sequence production task and the dual processor model (Abrahamse et al., 2013), significantly larger improvements in transition speed occurring at these four concatenation points as compared to the five fastest transition positions within the sequence (associated with mere element execution) were assumed to indicate increased chunk concatenation. As a result, chunk concatenation was shown to proceed during acquisition with physical practice, and, most importantly, to significantly progress some more during retention following a night of sleep, but not during a waking interval.

Rapid Serial Auditory Presentation

2015 ◽  
Vol 62 (5) ◽  
pp. 346-351 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Franco ◽  
Julia Eberlen ◽  
Arnaud Destrebecqz ◽  
Axel Cleeremans ◽  
Julie Bertels
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Learning ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Visual Presentation ◽  
Detection Task ◽  
Speech Segmentation ◽  
Auditory Presentation ◽  
Indirect Measure ◽  
Speech Stream ◽  
Adult Participants ◽  
Presentation Procedure

Abstract. The Rapid Serial Visual Presentation procedure is a method widely used in visual perception research. In this paper we propose an adaptation of this method which can be used with auditory material and enables assessment of statistical learning in speech segmentation. Adult participants were exposed to an artificial speech stream composed of statistically defined trisyllabic nonsense words. They were subsequently instructed to perform a detection task in a Rapid Serial Auditory Presentation (RSAP) stream in which they had to detect a syllable in a short speech stream. Results showed that reaction times varied as a function of the statistical predictability of the syllable: second and third syllables of each word were responded to faster than first syllables. This result suggests that the RSAP procedure provides a reliable and sensitive indirect measure of auditory statistical learning.

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