Carter Michael J, Smith Victoria, Carlsen Anthony N, Ste-Marie Diane M
School of Human Kinetics, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
Centre for Neuroscience Studies, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada.
Psychol Res. 2018 May;82(3):496-506. doi: 10.1007/s00426-017-0846-x. Epub 2017 Feb 27.
A distinct learning advantage has been shown when participants control their knowledge of results (KR) scheduling during practice compared to when the same KR schedule is imposed on the learner without choice (i.e., yoked schedules). Although the learning advantages of self-controlled KR schedules are well-documented, the brain regions contributing to these advantages remain unknown. Identifying key brain regions would not only advance our theoretical understanding of the mechanisms underlying self-controlled learning advantages, but would also highlight regions that could be targeted in more applied settings to boost the already beneficial effects of self-controlled KR schedules. Here, we investigated whether applying anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to the primary motor cortex (M1) would enhance the typically found benefits of learning a novel motor skill with a self-controlled KR schedule. Participants practiced a spatiotemporal task in one of four groups using a factorial combination of KR schedule (self-controlled vs. yoked) and tDCS (anodal vs. sham). Testing occurred on two consecutive days with spatial and temporal accuracy measured on both days and learning was assessed using 24-h retention and transfer tests without KR. All groups improved their performance in practice and a significant effect for practicing with a self-controlled KR schedule compared to a yoked schedule was found for temporal accuracy in transfer, but a similar advantage was not evident in retention. There were no significant differences as a function of KR schedule or tDCS for spatial accuracy in retention or transfer. The lack of a significant tDCS effect suggests that M1 may not strongly contribute to self-controlled KR learning advantages; however, caution is advised with this interpretation as typical self-controlled learning benefits were not strongly replicated in the present experiment.
与在学习者没有选择的情况下（即匹配时间表）施加相同的结果知识（KR）时间表相比，当参与者在练习期间控制他们的结果知识（KR）时间表时，已显示出明显的学习优势。尽管自我控制的KR时间表的学习优势有充分的文献记载，但促成这些优势的脑区仍然未知。确定关键脑区不仅会推进我们对自我控制学习优势背后机制的理论理解，还会突出在更多应用场景中可以靶向的区域，以增强自我控制的KR时间表已经有益的效果。在这里，我们研究了对初级运动皮层（M1）施加阳极经颅直流电刺激（tDCS）是否会增强使用自我控制的KR时间表学习新运动技能通常会发现的益处。参与者在四组中的一组中练习一项时空任务，使用KR时间表（自我控制与匹配）和tDCS（阳极与假刺激）的析因组合。测试在连续两天进行，两天都测量空间和时间准确性，并使用无KR的24小时保持和迁移测试评估学习情况。所有组在练习中都提高了他们的表现，并且在迁移中发现，与匹配时间表相比，使用自我控制的KR时间表进行练习对时间准确性有显著影响，但在保持中没有明显的类似优势。在保持或迁移中，空间准确性在KR时间表或tDCS方面没有显著差异。tDCS没有显著效果表明M1可能对自我控制的KR学习优势贡献不大；然而，由于在本实验中没有强烈复制典型的自我控制学习益处，因此在这种解释时应谨慎。
