scholarly journals Skill learning can be independent of speed and accuracy instructions

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teodóra Vékony ◽  
Hanna Marossy ◽  
Anita Must ◽  
László Vécsei ◽  
Karolina Janacsek ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Times ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Skill Learning ◽  
Training Phase ◽  
Learning Speed ◽  
Comparable Performance ◽  
Instruction Effect ◽  
Accuracy Instruction ◽  
Statistical Regularities ◽  
Speed And Accuracy

AbstractA crucial question in skill learning research is how instruction affects the performance or the underlying representations. However, a little is known about its effect on one critical aspect of skill leaning, namely, picking-up statistical regularities. More specifically, how pre-learning speed vs. accuracy instructions affect the acquisition of non-adjacent second-order dependencies. Here, we trained two groups of participants on an implicit probabilistic sequence learning task: one group focusing on being fast and the other on being accurate. As expected, we detected strong instruction effect: accuracy instruction resulted in a nearly errorless performance, while speed instruction caused short reaction times. Despite the differences in the average reaction times and accuracy scores, we found a similar level of statistical learning in the training phase. After the training phase, we tested the two groups under the same instruction (focusing on both speed and accuracy), and they showed comparable performance, suggesting a similar level of underlying statistical representations. Our findings support that skill learning can result in robust representations, and they highlight that this form of knowledge may appear with almost errorless performance.

scholarly journals Speed or Accuracy Instructions During Skill Learning do not Affect the Acquired Knowledge

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Teodóra Vékony ◽  
Hanna Marossy ◽  
Anita Must ◽  
László Vécsei ◽  
Karolina Janacsek ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Times ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Skill Learning ◽  
Learning Performance ◽  
Training Phase ◽  
Comparable Performance ◽  
Instruction Effect ◽  
Accuracy Instruction ◽  
Statistical Regularities ◽  
Speed And Accuracy

Abstract A crucial question in skill learning research is how instruction affects the performance or the underlying representations. Little is known about the effects of instructions on one critical aspect of skill learning, namely, picking-up statistical regularities. More specifically, the present study tests how prelearning speed or accuracy instructions affect the acquisition of non-adjacent second-order dependencies. We trained 2 groups of participants on an implicit probabilistic sequence learning task: one group focused on being fast and the other on being accurate. As expected, we detected a strong instruction effect: accuracy instruction resulted in a nearly errorless performance, and speed instruction caused short reaction times (RTs). Despite the differences in the average RTs and accuracy scores, we found a similar level of statistical learning performance in the training phase. After the training phase, we tested the 2 groups under the same instruction (focusing on both speed and accuracy), and they showed comparable performance, suggesting a similar level of underlying statistical representations. Our findings support that skill learning can result in robust representations, and they highlight that this form of knowledge may appear with almost errorless performance. Moreover, multiple sessions with different instructions enabled the separation of competence from performance.

What is consolidated during sleep-dependent motor skill learning?

2005 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luca A. Finelli ◽  
Terrence J. Sejnowski
Keyword(s):  
Motor Learning ◽  
Memory Consolidation ◽  
Motor Skill ◽  
Computational Models ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Skill Learning ◽  
Motor Skill Learning ◽  
Procedural Skills ◽  
Two Stages ◽  
Speed And Accuracy

Learning procedural skills involves improvement in speed and accuracy. Walker proposes two stages of memory consolidation: enhancement, which requires sleep, and stabilization, which does not require sleep. Speed improvement for a motor learning task but not accuracy occurs after sleep-dependent enhancement. We discuss this finding in the context of computational models and underlying sleep mechanisms.

scholarly journals Rats strategically manage learning during perceptual decision making

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Javier Masís ◽  
Travis Chapman ◽  
Juliana Y. Rhee ◽  
David D. Cox ◽  
Andrew M. Saxe
Keyword(s):  
Perceptual Learning ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Task Engagement ◽  
Perceptual Decision Making ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Reward Rate ◽  
Total Reward ◽  
Learning Speed ◽  
Optimal Reaction ◽  
Speed And Accuracy

AbstractBalancing the speed and accuracy of decisions is crucial for survival, but how organisms manage this trade-off during learning is largely unknown. Here, we track this trade-off during perceptual learning in rats and simulated agents. At the start of learning, rats chose long reaction times that did not optimize instantaneous reward rate, but by the end of learning chose near-optimal reaction times. To understand this behavior, we analyzed learning dynamics in a recurrent neural network model of the task. The model reveals a fundamental trade-off between instantaneous reward rate and perceptual learning speed, putting the goals of learning quickly and accruing immediate reward in tension. We find that the rats’ strategy of long initial responses can dramatically expedite learning, yielding higher total reward over task engagement. Our results demonstrate that prioritizing learning can be advantageous from a total reward perspective, and suggest that rats engage in cognitive control of learning.

scholarly journals The longer the better? General skill but not probabilistic learning improves with the duration of short rest periods

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lison Fanuel ◽  
Claire Plèche ◽  
Teodóra Vékony ◽  
Romain Quentin ◽  
Karolina Janacsek ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Sequence Learning ◽  
Memory Consolidation ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Skill Learning ◽  
Rest Periods ◽  
General Skills ◽  
Probabilistic Sequences ◽  
General Skill

AbstractMemory consolidation has mainly been investigated for extended periods, from hours to days. Recent studies suggest that memory consolidation can also occur within shorter periods, from minutes to seconds. Our study aimed at determining (1) whether short rest periods lead to improvements in implicit probabilistic sequence learning and (2) whether length of rest duration influences such offline improvements. Participants performed an implicit probabilistic sequence learning task throughout 45 blocks. Between blocks, participants were allowed to rest and then to continue the task in their pace. The overall reaction times (general skill learning) shortened from pre- to post-rest periods, and this improvement was increased for longer rest durations. However, probabilistic sequences knowledge decreased in these periods, and this decrement was not related to the length of rest duration. These results suggest that (1) general skill learning but not probabilistic sequence knowledge benefits from short rest periods and, possibly, from memory consolidation, (2) ultra-fast offline improvements in general skills, but not forgetting in probabilistic sequence knowledge, are time-dependent. Overall, our findings highlight that ultra-fast consolidation differently affects distinct cognitive processes.

Legibility Study of Selected Scale Characteristics for Moving-Tape Instruments

1965 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 545-555 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara J. Kelso
Keyword(s):  
Air Force ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Scale Factor ◽  
Verbal Response ◽  
Scale Factors ◽  
Scale Characteristics ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Standard Deviations ◽  
Vertical Scales ◽  
Speed And Accuracy

A legibility study was performed to investigate the effects of scale factors, graduation marks, orientation of scales, and reading conditions on the speed and accuracy of reading moving-tape instruments. Each of 150 Air Force Officers made 150 self-paced readings from slides of hand drawn tape instruments. Error was expressed as the magnitude of deviation of a subjects' verbal response from the set scale value. An analysis of variance was performed on the mean error scores, standard deviations of error, mean reaction times, and standard deviations of reaction times. The results clearly favored the 1 7/8 inch scale factor over the 1 3/8 inch and the 2 3/8 scale factor. The use of 9 graduation marks was superior to either 0, 1, 3, or 4 graduation marks. Reading conditions had little effect on performance. Horizontal scales were read more rapidly but no more accurately than vertical scales.

scholarly journals Exercise and the Brain: Angiogenesis in the Adult Rat Cerebellum after Vigorous Physical Activity and Motor Skill Learning

1992 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 110-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Krystyna R. Isaacs ◽  
Brenda J. Anderson ◽  
Adriana A. Alcantara ◽  
James E. Black ◽  
William T. Greenough
Keyword(s):  
Motor Learning ◽  
Motor Skill ◽  
Volume Fraction ◽  
Vigorous Physical Activity ◽  
Molecular Layer ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Skill Learning ◽  
Female Rats ◽  
Motor Skill Learning ◽  
Diffusion Distance

This study compared the morphology of cerebellar cortex in adult female rats exposed for 1 month to repetitive exercise, motor learning, or an inactive condition. In the exercise conditions, rats that were run on a treadmill or housed with access to a running wheel had a shorter diffusion distance from blood vessels in the molecular layer of the paramedian lobule when compared to rats housed individually or rats that participated in a motor skill learning task. Rats taught complex motor skills substantially increased the volume of the molecular layer per Purkinje neuron and increased blood vessel number sufficiently to maintain the diffusion distance. These results dissociate angiogenesis associated with increased neuropil volume (as seen in the motor learning group) from angiogenesis associated with increased metabolic demands (as seen in the exercise groups). While the volume fraction of mitochondria did not differ among groups, the mitochondrial volume fraction per Purkinje cell was significantly increased in the motor skill rats. This appears to parallel the previously reported increase in synapses and associated neuropil volume change.

Emphasizing Nonword Decisions in Word-Decision Performance

2008 ◽  
Vol 103 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-101
Author(s):  
C. Darren Piercey
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Lexical Decision ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Instruction Condition ◽  
Decision Performance ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Speed And Accuracy ◽  
Mean Reaction Time

A robust finding in the lexical decision literature is that decisions to words are made more quickly and accurately than decisions to nonwords. When instructions are presented to participants prior to an experiment, an emphasis is usually placed on identifying words. This study assessed whether instructing participants to emphasize nonword decisions would affect the performance of the speed and accuracy of identification. A total of 98 individuals took part, 49 in a Word Instruction condition and 49 in a Nonword Instruction condition. Analysis indicated changes in emphasis on words versus nonwords decreased the difference in mean reaction time between word and nonword decisions. An interesting finding is that the manipulation of instructions affected reaction times to words but not to nonwords. The analysis of accuracy yielded no significant comparisons. Further research is required to assess the importance of the finding that the manipulation of instructions affects only word decisions.

scholarly journals Double Dissociation of Nicotinic α7 and α4/β2 Sub-receptor Agonists for Enhancing Learning and Attentional Filtering of Distraction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maryzeh Azimi ◽  
Mariann Oemisch ◽  
Thilo Womelsdorf
Keyword(s):  
Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors ◽  
Acetylcholine Receptors ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Double Dissociation ◽  
Learning Speed ◽  
Specific Amplification ◽  
Beta 2 ◽  
Alpha 7 ◽  
Feature Values ◽  
Value Learning

AbstractNicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChR) modulate attention, memory, and higher executive functioning, but it has remained unclear whether nAChR sub-receptors tap into different neural mechanisms of these functions. We therefore set out to contrast the contributions of selective alpha-7 nAChR and alpha-4/beta-2 nAChR agonists in mediating value learning and attentional filtering of distractors in the nonhuman primate. We found that the alpha-7 nAChR agonist PHA-543613 selectively enhanced the learning speed of feature values but did not modulate how salient distracting information was filtered from ongoing choice processes. In contrast, the selective alpha-4/beta-2 nAChR agonist ABT-089 did not affect learning speed but reduced distractibility. This double dissociation was dose-dependent and evident in the absence of systematic changes in overall performance, reward intake, motivation to perform the task, perseveration tendencies, or reaction times. These results suggest nicotinic sub-receptor-specific mechanisms consistent with (1) alpha-4/beta-2 nAChR specific amplification of cholinergic transients in prefrontal cortex linked to enhanced cue detection in light of interferences, and (2) alpha-7 nAChR specific activation prolonging cholinergic transients, which could facilitate subjects to follow-through with newly established attentional strategies when outcome contingencies change. These insights will be critical for developing function-specific drugs alleviating attention and learning deficits in neuro-psychiatric diseases.

scholarly journals Verbal Labels Facilitate Tactile Texture Discrimination in a Perceptual Learning Task

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ishita Arun ◽  
Leslee Lazar
Keyword(s):  
Learning Task ◽  
Implicit Associations ◽  
Training Phase ◽  
Grammatical Category ◽  
Improve Performance ◽  
Texture Discrimination ◽  
Discrimination Ability ◽  
Contentious Issue ◽  
Linguistic Research ◽  
Verbal Labels

ABSTRACTThe influence of language on perceptual processes, referred to as the Whorfian hypothesis, has been a contentious issue. Cross-linguistic research and lab-based experiments have shown that verbal labels can facilitate perceptual and discriminatory processes, mostly in visual and auditory modalities. Here, we investigated whether verbal labels improve performance in a tactile texture discrimination task using natural textures. We also explored whether the grammatical category of these verbal labels plays a role in discrimination ability. In our experiments, we asked the participants to discriminate between pairs of textures presented to the fingertip after a five-day training phase. During the training phase, the tactile textures and English pseudowords were co-presented consistently in the congruent (experimental) condition and inconsistently in the incongruent (control) condition, allowing them to form implicit associations only in the former condition. The pseudoword verbal labels belonged to two grammatical categories, verb-like and noun-like. We found an improvement in the texture discrimination ability only for the congruent condition, irrespective of the grammatical category.

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