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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Aug 24, 2025

Investigating Motor Skill Learning Processes with a Robotic Manipulandum

Investigating Motor Skill Learning Processes with a Robotic Manipulandum

Published on: February 12, 2017

Speed and accuracy instructions affect two aspects of skill learning differently.

Teodóra Vékony¹, Claire Pleche^1,2, Orsolya Pesthy^3,4

¹Lyon Neuroscience Research Center (CRNL), INSERM U1028, CNRS UMR5292, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Lyon, France.

NPJ Science of Learning

|October 22, 2022

Summary

Prioritizing speed during procedural learning enhances performance on probability-based tasks but not serial-order tasks. Acquired knowledge remains unaffected by initial speed or accuracy instructions.

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Last Updated: Aug 24, 2025

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Neuroscience

Background:

Procedural learning is crucial for skill acquisition and daily functioning.
Previous research on modifying procedural learning through speed or accuracy instructions yields conflicting results.
Procedural learning is a complex cognitive function with distinct components.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate how speed and accuracy instructions influence two types of procedural learning: probability-based and serial-order-based.
To determine if different instructions differentially affect these learning aspects.

Main Methods:

Healthy participants were divided into two groups: one instructed to prioritize speed, the other accuracy, during a cued probabilistic sequence learning task.
Knowledge acquisition was assessed after a retention period with equal speed and accuracy instructions.
Performance was evaluated based on probability-based and serial-order-based learning.

Main Results:

Speed instructions enhanced the expression of probability-based knowledge but not serial-order-based knowledge.
Acquired knowledge, assessed after a retention period, was comparable between groups for both learning types.
Accuracy instructions led to near-ceiling performance, indicating errors are not essential for procedural learning.

Conclusions:

Different aspects of procedural learning are differentially affected by learning instructions.
Speed instructions may boost momentary performance but do not alter long-term acquired knowledge.
Instructions can dissociate between an individual's competence and their performance.