Abstract
Assessing implicit learning in the continuous pursuit-tracking task usually concerns a repeated segment of target displacements masked by two random segments, as referred to as Pew’s paradigm. Evidence for segment learning in this paradigm is scanty and contrasts with robust sequence learning in discrete tracking tasks. The present study investigates this issue with two experiments in which participants (N = 56) performed a continuous tracking task. Contrary to Pew’s paradigm, participants were presented with a training sequence that was continuously cycled during 14 blocks of practice, but Block 12 in which a transfer sequence was introduced. Results demonstrate sequence learning in several conditions except in the condition that was obviously the most similar to previous studies failing to induce segment learning. Specifically, it is shown here that a target moving too slowly combined with variable time at which target reversal occurs prevents sequence learning. In addition, data from a post-experimental recognition test indicate that sequence learning was associated with explicit perceptual knowledge about the repetitive structure. We propose that learning repetition in a continuous tracking task is conditional on its capacity to (1) allow participants to detect the repeated regularities and (2) restrict feedback-based tracking strategies.
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Acknowledgments
We are very grateful to Peter Pfordresher, Pierre Perruchet and Richard Ivry for their valuable comments and suggestions on previous versions of this article. We also thank John Stewart for careful review of the English style of the manuscript.
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Lang, A., Gapenne, O., Aubert, D. et al. Implicit sequence learning in a continuous pursuit-tracking task. Psychological Research 77, 517–527 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-012-0460-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-012-0460-x