Isolated sequence learning in the visual and motor domain

To date, sequence learning (SL) has been demonstrated in various perceptual domains, but SL in the motor domain has only been observed in conjunction with perceptual learning. The present study aimed to isolate motor and visual SL to test whether motor SL can occur independently of perceptual SL. Response times were measured in a button-pressing task. A coloured circle was displayed as a target, and four coloured arcs mapped target colour to four buttons' locations. The arcs' colours changed randomly to dissociate the visual and motor sequence. In the visual learning condition, target colours were sequential, while response buttons were random, and vice versa in the motor learning condition. Thirty participants were tested in both conditions in a counterbalanced order over two consecutive days. Sequential lists were used for training, and randomised lists were used to measure baseline performance. Results showed significantly shorter RTs in the sequential (561 ms) than in the random test blocks (571 ms), F(1,28) = 29.717, p < .001, but no difference between conditions, F(1,28) = 0.041, p = .840. This indicates that SL occurred and was similar in size in both domains. The finding of isolated visual SL is in line with previous research. Importantly, our results show that motor SL can occur independently of visual SL. The similar learning rates observed in both conditions may indicate a common underlying mechanism for SL in both domains. This finding is an important precursor to testing theoretical assumptions about isolated and combined Hebbian learning across domains.