title: Multimodal sequence learning.
abstract: While sequence learning research models complex phenomena, previous studies have mostly focused on unimodal sequences. The goal of the current experiment is to put implicit sequence learning into a multimodal context: to test whether it can operate across different modalities. We used the Task Sequence Learning paradigm to test whether sequence learning varies across modalities, and whether participants are able to learn multimodal sequences. Our results show that implicit sequence learning is very similar regardless of the source modality. However, the presence of correlated task and response sequences was required for learning to take place. The experiment provides new evidence for implicit sequence learning of abstract conceptual representations. In general, the results suggest that correlated sequences are necessary for implicit sequence learning to occur. Moreover, they show that elements from different modalities can be automatically integrated into one unitary multimodal sequence.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychology, University of Graz, Austria; Department of Cognitive Science, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Budapest, Hungary; Institute of Psychology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland. Electronic address: fkemeny@cogsci.bme.hu.
authors.forename: Ferenc
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kemény
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland; Center for Cognition, Learning and Memory, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Beat
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Meier
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D003210:Concept Formation / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D012691:Serial Learning; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Correlated sequences; Implicit sequence learning; Modality independence; Task Sequence Learning