Department of Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological Sciences.
Department of Neuroscience.
J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn. 2021 Oct;47(10):1638-1659. doi: 10.1037/xlm0001004. Epub 2021 Sep 13.
Everyday task sequences, such as cooking, contain overarching goals (completing the meal), subgoals (prepare vegetables), and motor actions (chopping). Such tasks generally are considered hierarchical because superordinate levels (e.g., goals) affect performance at subordinate levels (e.g., subgoals and motor actions). However, there is debate as to whether this hierarchy is "strict" with unidirectional, top-down influences, and it is unknown if and how practice affects performance at the superordinate levels. To investigate these questions, we manipulated practice with sequences at the goal and motor action levels using an abstract, or nonmotor, task sequence paradigm (Desrochers et al., 2015; Schneider & Logan, 2006). In three experiments, participants performed memorized abstract task sequences composed of simple tasks (e.g., color/shape judgements), where some contained embedded motor response sequences. We found that practice facilitated performance and reduced control costs for abstract task sequences and subordinate tasks. The interrelation was different between the hierarchical levels, demonstrating a strict relationship between abstract task sequence goals and subgoals and a nonstrict relationship between subgoal and motor response levels. Under some conditions, the motor response level influenced the abstract task sequence level in a nonstrict manner. Further, manipulating the presence or absence of a motor sequence after learning indicated that these effects were not the result of an integrated representation produced by practice. These experiments provide evidence for a mixed hierarchical model of task sequences and insight into the distinct roles of practice and motor processing in efficiently executing task sequences in daily life. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
日常任务序列，如烹饪，包含总体目标（完成餐食）、子目标（准备蔬菜）和动作（切菜）。这些任务通常被认为是分层的，因为高级别（如目标）会影响低级别（如子目标和动作）的表现。然而，关于这种层次结构是否具有“严格”的单向自上而下的影响存在争议，也不知道练习是否以及如何影响高级别的表现。为了研究这些问题，我们使用抽象的（非运动的）任务序列范式（Desrochers 等人，2015 年；Schneider 和 Logan，2006 年），在目标和动作水平上操纵序列的练习，来进行研究。在三个实验中，参与者执行记忆中的抽象任务序列，这些序列由简单任务组成（例如颜色/形状判断），其中一些包含嵌入式动作反应序列。我们发现，练习促进了抽象任务序列和子任务的表现，并降低了控制成本。层次结构之间的相互关系不同，这表明抽象任务序列目标和子目标之间存在严格的关系，而子目标和动作反应水平之间存在非严格的关系。在某些条件下，动作反应水平以非严格的方式影响抽象任务序列水平。此外，在学习后操纵动作序列的存在与否表明，这些影响不是练习产生的综合表现的结果。这些实验为任务序列的混合层次模型提供了证据，并深入了解了练习和动作处理在日常生活中高效执行任务序列的不同作用。（PsycInfo 数据库记录（c）2022 APA，保留所有权利）。
