title: Chunking and compound cueing of movement sequences: learning, retention, and transfer.
abstract: When teaching a complex sequence, the sequence is often chunked into components; however, this strategy may not always benefit learning, but may be detrimental. The hypothesis is that this occurs because chunking deprives learners of compound cues that could aid recall. To test this, participants learned 9-item movement sequences, either as three 3-item chunks or as one 9-item series. To undermine compound cueing, some sequences had several movements in common. Learning a sequence in chunks impaired motor skill acquisition only when participants could have exploited compound cues; it also led participants to adopt an alternative recall strategy, which transferred to novel sequences even though this was detrimental to recall.
authors.affiliation: Volen Center for Complex Systems, Brandeis University, MS013, 415 South Street, Waltham, MA 02454-9110, USA. njrice@brandeis.edu
authors.forename: Nichola Rice
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Cohen
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sekuler
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001245:Association Learning; D001288:Attention; D003118:Color Perception; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D005794:Generalization, Response; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D009039:Motion Perception; D009949:Orientation; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D011214:Practice, Psychological; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D012153:Retention, Psychology; D012691:Serial Learning; D014163:Transfer, Psychology; D055815:Young Adult