Du Yue, Valentini Nadia C, Kim Min J, Whitall Jill, Clark Jane E
Department of Kinesiology, University of Maryland, College Park, College Park MD, USA.
Department of Physical Education, Physical Therapy and Dance, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul Porto Alegre, Brazil.
Front Psychol. 2017 Feb 7;8:158. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00158. eCollection 2017.
Both children and adults can learn motor sequences quickly in one learning session, yet little is known about potential age-related processes that underlie this fast sequence acquisition. Here, we examined the progressive performance changes in a one-session modified serial reaction time task in 6- and 10-year-old children and adults. We found that rapid sequence learning, as reflected by reaction time (RT), was comparable between groups. The learning was expressed through two behavioral processes: online progressive changes in RT while the task was performed in a continuous manner and offline changes in RT that emerged following a short rest. These offline and online RT changes were age-related; learning in 6-year-olds was primarily reflected through the offline process. In contrast, learning in adults was reflected through the online process; and both online and offline processes occurred concurrently in 10-year-olds. Our results suggest that early rapid sequence learning has a developmental profile. Although the unifying mechanism underlying these two age-related processes is unclear, we discuss possible explanations that need to be systematically elucidated in future studies.
儿童和成人都可以在一次学习过程中快速学习运动序列，但对于这种快速序列习得背后潜在的与年龄相关的过程，我们却知之甚少。在此，我们研究了6岁、10岁儿童及成人在一次改良的序列反应时任务中的渐进性表现变化。我们发现，反应时（RT）所反映的快速序列学习在各组之间具有可比性。这种学习通过两个行为过程表现出来：在连续执行任务时RT的在线渐进性变化，以及短暂休息后出现的RT的离线变化。这些离线和在线RT变化与年龄相关；6岁儿童的学习主要通过离线过程体现。相比之下，成人的学习通过在线过程体现；而在10岁儿童中，在线和离线过程同时发生。我们的结果表明，早期快速序列学习具有发展特征。尽管这两个与年龄相关的过程背后的统一机制尚不清楚，但我们讨论了一些可能的解释，这些解释需要在未来的研究中进行系统阐明。
