title: Response-mode shifts during sequence learning of macaque monkeys.
abstract: Incidental sequence learning has been conceptualized as involving a shift from stimulus-based to plan-based performance (e.g., Tubauet et al. in Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 136:43-63, 2007). We analyzed the response time (RT) data of two macaque monkeys that were trained for thousands of trials on a sequential reaching task in a study by Matsuzaka et al. in Journal of Neurophysiology 97, 1819-1832 (2007). The animals learned to respond predictively to a repeating 3-element sequence. During a transitional period, RT distributions were bimodal, indicating that the animals alternated between two processing modes. An analysis of trial-to-trial mode shifting probabilities provided preliminary evidence for a strategic process.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9660, USA. dennis.ruenger@gmail.com
authors.forename: Dennis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rünger
authors.forename: F Gregory
authors.initials: FG
authors.lastname: Ashby
authors.forename: Nathalie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Picard
authors.forename: Peter L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Strick
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008251:Macaca / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology*