New insights into statistical learning and chunk learning in implicit sequence acquisition.
Implicit sequence learning is ubiquitous in our daily life. However, it is unclear whether the initial acquisition of sequences results from learning to chunk items (i.e., chunk learning) or learning the underlying statistical regularities (i.e., statistical learning). By grouping responses with or without a distinct chunk or statistical structure into segments and comparing these responses, previous studies have demonstrated both chunk and statistical learning. However, few studies have considered the response sequence as a whole and examined the temporal dependency of the entire sequence, where the temporal dependencies could disclose the internal representations of chunk and statistical learning. Participants performed a serial reaction time (SRT) task under different stimulus interval conditions. We found that sequence learning reflected by reaction time (RT) rather than motor improvements represented by movement time (MT). The temporal dependency of RT and MT revealed that both RT and MT displayed recursive patterns caused by biomechanical effects of response locations and foot transitions. Chunking was noticeable only in the presence of the recurring RT or MT but vanished after the recursive component was removed, implying that chunk formation may result from biomechanical constraints rather than learning itself. In addition, we observed notable first-order autocorrelations in RT. This trial-to-trial association enhanced as learning progressed regardless of stimulus intervals, reflecting the internal cognitive representation of the first-order stimulus contingencies. Our results suggest that initial acquisition of implicit sequences may arise from first-order statistical learning rather than chunk learning.
Department of Kinesiology, University of Maryland, 2351 School of Public Health Bldg, 4200 Valley Drive, College Park, Maryland, 20742-2611, USA. duyue@umd.edu.|Applied Mathematics & Statistics, and Scientific Computation Program, University of Maryland, 3103 Mathematics Building, College Park, Maryland, 20742-4015, USA. duyue@umd.edu.
Yue
0000-0002-3865-0805
Y
Du
Department of Kinesiology, University of Maryland, 2351 School of Public Health Bldg, 4200 Valley Drive, College Park, Maryland, 20742-2611, USA.|Neuroscience and Cognitive Science Program, University of Maryland, 0218 Cole Student Activities Building, 4090 Union Drive, College Park, Maryland, 20742, USA.
Jane E
JE
Clark
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011337:Probability Learning; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology*; D012691:Serial Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
Autoregression; Biomechanical constraints; Chunk learning; Implicit sequence learning; Movement time; Reaction time; Statistical learning