Segmentation Strategies in Motor Sequences: A Real-World Example Using Sewing

Experimental paradigms of motor sequencing typically examine sequences consisting of near-instantaneous events, such as a key press, where the temporal structure is fixed. However, when sequences consist of behaviors of finite duration, multiple temporal strategies can be used to complete the sequence by segmenting the behaviors (i.e., by switching between different behaviors). Here we used an industrial sewing task to examine: (i) the effect of task difficulty on segmentation and (ii) the impact of segmentation on task performance. Sewing machine operators performed two standardized sewing tasks. Video was used to record and code the temporal sequence of different behaviors. We found that: (i) greater task difficulty resulted in greater segmentation, (ii) there was no clear evidence of an association between segmentation and task performance, indicating that multiple segmentation strategies could achieve the same performance. These results highlight a new experimental paradigm for sequence production with the possibility for different strategies.