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Evidence for lasting sequence segmentation in the discrete sequence-production task.

William B Verwey¹, Teun Eikelboom

¹Faculty of Behavioral Sciences, Department of Instrument Technology, University of Twente, P.O. Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands. Verwey@edte.utwente.nl

Journal of Motor Behavior

|April 25, 2003

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Practice develops motor chunks for keying sequences, with longer sequences segmented into smaller parts. A preceding choice reaction time task revealed this segmentation, even after extensive practice.

Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Motor Control
Human-Computer Interaction

Background:

Movement sequence execution slows with increased length.
Practice typically reduces this sequence-length effect.
Attributed to chunking, but programming efficiency is an alternative explanation.

Purpose of the Study:

Investigate mechanisms of skill in keying sequence execution.
Examine how practice and sequence regularity affect performance.
Determine if longer sequences are executed as single units or segments.

Main Methods:

Participants (N=18) practiced discrete sequence-production tasks.
Task involved fixed sequences of 3 and 6 key presses.
Varied practice, sequence regularity, and a preceding choice reaction time (RT) task.

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Main Results:

Most participants segmented the 6-key sequence into 2+ parts, persisting with practice.
A preceding choice RT task re-established the sequence-length effect on latency.
Segmentation was masked by individual differences unless regularities imposed a common pattern.

Conclusions:

Practice leads to the development of motor chunks for short segments.
Longer sequences utilize a control scheme for concatenating these chunks.
Sequence segmentation is a key mechanism in skilled keying performance.