title: After-training emotional interference may modulate sequence awareness in a serial reaction time task.
abstract: The purpose of the present experiment was to investigate the effects of emotional interference on consolidation of sequential learning. In different sessions, 6 groups of subjects were initially trained on a serial reaction time task (SRTT). To modulate consolidation of the newly learned skill, subjects were exposed, after the training, to 1 of 3 (positive, negative or neutral) different classes of emotional stimuli which consisted of a set of emotional pictures combined with congruent emotional musical pieces or neutral sound. Emotional intervention for each subject group was done in 2 different time intervals (either directly after the training session or 6 h later). After a 72 h post-training interval, each group was retested on the SRTT. Re-test performance was evaluated in terms of response times and accuracy during execution of a target sequence. Emotional intervention did not influence either response times or accuracy of re-testing SRTT target task performance, both variables sensitive to implicit knowledge acquired during SRTT training. However, explicit awareness of sequence knowledge after 72 h was enhanced when negative stimuli had been applied at 0 h after training. These findings suggest that consolidation of explicit aspects of procedural learning may be more responsive toward emotional interference than implicit aspects.
authors.affiliation: Human Cortical Physiology and Motor Control Laboratory, Department of Neurology, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Cigdem
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Onal-Hartmann
authors.forename: Mirta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fiorio
authors.forename: Reinhard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gentner
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zeller
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pauli
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Classen
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001364:Awareness; D004644:Emotions; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D019359:Knowledge; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D011930:Reaction Time; D012153:Retention, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*; D012691:Serial Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult