title: Computer use changes generalization of movement learning.
abstract: Over the past few decades, one of the most salient lifestyle changes for us has been the use of computers. For many of us, manual interaction with a computer occupies a large portion of our working time. Through neural plasticity, this extensive movement training should change our representation of movements (e.g., [1-3]), just like search engines affect memory [4]. However, how computer use affects motor learning is largely understudied. Additionally, as virtually all participants in studies of perception and actions are computer users, a legitimate question is whether insights from these studies bear the signature of computer-use experience. We compared non-computer users with age- and education-matched computer users in standard motor learning experiments. We found that people learned equally fast but that non-computer users generalized significantly less across space, a difference negated by two weeks of intensive computer training. Our findings suggest that computer-use experience shaped our basic sensorimotor behaviors, and this influence should be considered whenever computer users are recruited as study participants.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Peking University, 100871 Beijing, China. Electronic address: wei.kunlin@pku.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Kunlin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Peking University, 100871 Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Xiang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Peking University, 100871 Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Gaiqing
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kong
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Peking University, 100871 Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Cong
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Peking University, 100871 Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Fan
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Peking University, 100871 Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Qining
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL 60611, USA.
authors.forename: Konrad Paul
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Kording
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003201:Computers; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D009068:Movement; D011187:Posture; D011597:Psychomotor Performance