-
PloS One 2018Motor skill acquisition inherently depends on the way one practices the motor task. The amount of motor task variability during practice has been shown to foster...
Motor skill acquisition inherently depends on the way one practices the motor task. The amount of motor task variability during practice has been shown to foster transfer of the learned skill to other similar motor tasks. In addition, variability in a learning schedule, in which a task and its variations are interweaved during practice, has been shown to help the transfer of learning in motor skill acquisition. However, there is little evidence on how motor task variations and variability schedules during practice act on the acquisition of complex motor skills such as music performance, in which a performer learns both the right movements (motor skill) and the right time to perform them (timing skill). This study investigated the impact of rate (tempo) variability and the schedule of tempo change during practice on timing and motor skill acquisition. Complete novices, with no musical training, practiced a simple musical sequence on a piano keyboard at different rates. Each novice was assigned to one of four learning conditions designed to manipulate the amount of tempo variability across trials (large or small tempo set) and the schedule of tempo change (randomized or non-randomized order) during practice. At test, the novices performed the same musical sequence at a familiar tempo and at novel tempi (testing tempo transfer), as well as two novel (but related) sequences at a familiar tempo (testing spatial transfer). We found that practice conditions had little effect on learning and transfer performance of timing skill. Interestingly, practice conditions influenced motor skill learning (reduction of movement variability): lower temporal variability during practice facilitated transfer to new tempi and new sequences; non-randomized learning schedule improved transfer to new tempi and new sequences. Tempo (rate) and the sequence difficulty (spatial manipulation) affected performance variability in both timing and movement. These findings suggest that there is a dissociable effect of practice variability on learning complex skills that involve both motor and timing constraints.
Topics: Adult; Female; Humans; Male; Motor Skills; Music; Practice, Psychological; Random Allocation; Transfer, Psychology; Young Adult
PubMed: 29494670
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0193580 -
The Journal of Neuroscience : the... Feb 2016Humans can learn to abstract and conceptualize the shared visual features defining an object category in object learning. Therefore, learning is generalizable to...
UNLABELLED
Humans can learn to abstract and conceptualize the shared visual features defining an object category in object learning. Therefore, learning is generalizable to transformations of familiar objects and even to new objects that differ in other physical properties. In contrast, visual perceptual learning (VPL), improvement in discriminating fine differences of a basic visual feature through training, is commonly regarded as specific and low-level learning because the improvement often disappears when the trained stimulus is simply relocated or rotated in the visual field. Such location and orientation specificity is taken as evidence for neural plasticity in primary visual cortex (V1) or improved readout of V1 signals. However, new training methods have shown complete VPL transfer across stimulus locations and orientations, suggesting the involvement of high-level cognitive processes. Here we report that VPL bears similar properties of object learning. Specifically, we found that orientation discrimination learning is completely transferrable between luminance gratings initially encoded in V1 and bilaterally symmetric dot patterns encoded in higher visual cortex. Similarly, motion direction discrimination learning is transferable between first- and second-order motion signals. These results suggest that VPL can take place at a conceptual level and generalize to stimuli with different physical properties. Our findings thus reconcile perceptual and object learning into a unified framework.
SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT
Training in object recognition can produce a learning effect that is applicable to new viewing conditions or even to new objects with different physical properties. However, perceptual learning has long been regarded as a low-level form of learning because of its specificity to the trained stimulus conditions. Here we demonstrate with new training tactics that visual perceptual learning is completely transferrable between distinct physical stimuli. This finding indicates that perceptual learning also operates at a conceptual level in a stimulus-invariant manner.
Topics: Adult; Discrimination, Psychological; Female; Humans; Learning; Male; Neuronal Plasticity; Orientation; Perception; Photic Stimulation; Spatial Learning; Transfer, Psychology; Visual Cortex; Visual Fields; Young Adult
PubMed: 26888933
DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2732-15.2016 -
Gait & Posture May 2019Previous studies have shown that the extent to which learning with one limb transfers to the opposite, untrained limb (i.e., interlimb transfer) is proportional to the...
BACKGROUND
Previous studies have shown that the extent to which learning with one limb transfers to the opposite, untrained limb (i.e., interlimb transfer) is proportional to the amount of prior learning (or skill acquisition) that has occurred in the training limb. Thus, it is likely that distributed practice-a training strategy that is known to facilitate learning-will result in greater interlimb transfer than massed practice.
RESEARCH QUESTION
To evaluate the effects of massed and distributed practice on acquisition and interlimb transfer of leg motor skills during walking.
METHODS
Forty-five subjects learned a new gait pattern that required greater hip and knee flexion during the swing phase of gait. The new gait pattern was displayed as a foot trajectory in the sagittal plane and participants attempted to match their foot trajectory to this template. Subjects in the massed practice group (n = 20) learned the task on a single day, whereas subjects in the distributed practice group (n = 25) learned the task that was spaced over two consecutive days (training phase). Following completion of training, subjects in both groups practiced the task with their untrained, opposite leg to evaluate interlimb transfer (transfer phase).
RESULTS
Results indicated that the amount of skill acquisition (i.e., reductions in tracking error) on the training leg was significantly higher (P < 0.05) in the distributed practice group when compared with the massed practice group. Similarly, the amount of interlimb transfer was also significantly higher (P < 0.05) in the distributed practice group both at the beginning and end of the transfer phase.
SIGNIFICANCE
The findings indicate that acquisition and interlimb transfer of leg motor skills are significantly greater when the task was learned using distributed practice, which may have implications for gait rehabilitation in individuals with unilateral deficits, such as stroke.
Topics: Adult; Female; Gait; Humans; Learning; Male; Motor Skills; Transfer, Psychology; Young Adult
PubMed: 30831544
DOI: 10.1016/j.gaitpost.2019.02.019 -
Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology Jan 2018Depressed adolescents are characterized by negative interpretation biases. Although investigators have used cognitive bias modification for interpretation (CBM-I) to...
Depressed adolescents are characterized by negative interpretation biases. Although investigators have used cognitive bias modification for interpretation (CBM-I) to experimentally manipulate interpretation biases in depressed adults, the near- and far-transfer effects are not well understood in adolescents diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). In this study, we extend previous research by investigating the near- and far-transfer effects of 6 sessions of Positive versus Neutral CBM-I on independent measures of interpretation bias (near-transfer effects) and on attention biases and clinical symptoms (far-transfer effects) in a sample of adolescents with MDD (n = 46). At post-training, adolescents who received Positive CBM-I interpreted ambiguous scenarios more positively than did participants who received Neutral CBM-I, providing evidence of training effectiveness. There was no evidence, however, of near- or far-transfer effects. These findings raise concerns about the malleability of interpretation biases in adolescent depression and suggest that further work is needed to establish the clinical utility of CBM-I for adolescents with MDD.
Topics: Adolescent; Attentional Bias; Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; Depressive Disorder, Major; Female; Humans; Male; Outcome Assessment, Health Care; Transfer, Psychology
PubMed: 28299526
DOI: 10.1007/s10802-017-0285-6 -
Gait & Posture Jul 2017Several studies have shown that learning a motor skill in one limb can transfer to the opposite limb-a phenomenon called as interlimb transfer. The transfer of motor... (Randomized Controlled Trial)
Randomized Controlled Trial
Several studies have shown that learning a motor skill in one limb can transfer to the opposite limb-a phenomenon called as interlimb transfer. The transfer of motor skills between limbs, however, has shown to be asymmetric, where one side benefits to a greater extent than the other. While this phenomenon has been well-documented in the upper-extremity, evidence for interlimb transfer in the lower-extremity is limited and mixed. This study investigated the extent of interlimb transfer during walking, and tested whether this transfer was asymmetric using a foot trajectory-tracking paradigm that has been specifically used for gait rehabilitation. The paradigm involved learning a new gait pattern which required greater hip and knee flexion during the swing phase of the gait while walking on a treadmill. Twenty young adults were randomized into two equal groups, where one group (right-to-left: RL) practiced the task initially with the dominant right leg and the other group (left-to-right: LR) practiced the task initially with their non-dominant left leg. After training, both groups practiced the task with their opposite leg to test the transfer effects. The changes in tracking error on each leg were computed to quantify learning and transfer effects. The results indicated that practice with one leg improved the motor performance of the other leg; however, the amount of transfer was similar across groups, indicating that there was no asymmetry in transfer. This finding is contradictory to most upper-extremity studies (where asymmetric transfer has been reported) and points out that both differences in neural processes and types of tasks may mediate interlimb transfer.
Topics: Adult; Gait; Healthy Volunteers; Humans; Lower Extremity; Motor Skills; Transfer, Psychology; Walking; Young Adult
PubMed: 28482202
DOI: 10.1016/j.gaitpost.2017.04.032 -
Perspectives on Psychological Science :... Jul 2016It has been claimed that working memory training programs produce diverse beneficial effects. This article presents a meta-analysis of working memory training studies... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis Review
It has been claimed that working memory training programs produce diverse beneficial effects. This article presents a meta-analysis of working memory training studies (with a pretest-posttest design and a control group) that have examined transfer to other measures (nonverbal ability, verbal ability, word decoding, reading comprehension, or arithmetic; 87 publications with 145 experimental comparisons). Immediately following training there were reliable improvements on measures of intermediate transfer (verbal and visuospatial working memory). For measures of far transfer (nonverbal ability, verbal ability, word decoding, reading comprehension, arithmetic) there was no convincing evidence of any reliable improvements when working memory training was compared with a treated control condition. Furthermore, mediation analyses indicated that across studies, the degree of improvement on working memory measures was not related to the magnitude of far-transfer effects found. Finally, analysis of publication bias shows that there is no evidential value from the studies of working memory training using treated controls. The authors conclude that working memory training programs appear to produce short-term, specific training effects that do not generalize to measures of "real-world" cognitive skills. These results seriously question the practical and theoretical importance of current computerized working memory programs as methods of training working memory skills.
Topics: Cognitive Remediation; Humans; Intelligence; Memory, Short-Term; Transfer, Psychology
PubMed: 27474138
DOI: 10.1177/1745691616635612 -
Revista Gaucha de Enfermagem 2020To identify in the literature methods and techniques of debriefing used in teaching and learning in nursing simulation.
OBJECTIVE
To identify in the literature methods and techniques of debriefing used in teaching and learning in nursing simulation.
METHODS
Integrative review of PubMed/MEDLINE®, LILACS, Scopus and CINAHL® databases, with the descriptors "nursing", "nursing education", respective terms in English and Spanish, and the keyword "debriefing". Twelve primary studies, in Portuguese, English and Spanish, from January 2008 to December 2018 were included. Qualitative analysis was used to categorize the domains.
RESULTS
The identified meaningful learning methods were based on principles of transfer of learning; model of clinical reasoning, interprofessional, with good judgment and structured and self-debriefing techniques, oral, eye-tracking, video-assisted and written debriefing.
CONCLUSIONS
The structured method and the oral technique with video were outstanding. One method was not superior to the other but effective for a particular proposal. No national studies have been found. Research should be conducted on the effectiveness of nursing debriefing methods and techniques.
Topics: Clinical Competence; Education, Nursing; Eye-Tracking Technology; Feedback, Psychological; Humans; Patient Simulation; Transfer, Psychology
PubMed: 32294726
DOI: 10.1590/1983-1447.2020.20190182 -
Journal of Vision Dec 2018We previously demonstrated that perceptual learning of Vernier discrimination, when paired with orientation learning at the same retinal location, can transfer...
We previously demonstrated that perceptual learning of Vernier discrimination, when paired with orientation learning at the same retinal location, can transfer completely to untrained locations (Wang, Zhang, Klein, Levi, & Yu, 2014; Zhang, Wang, Klein, Levi, & Yu, 2011). However, Hung and Seitz (2014) reported that the transfer is possible only when Vernier is trained with short staircases, but not with very long staircases. Here we ran two experiments to examine Hung and Seitz's conclusions. The first experiment confirmed the transfer effects with short-staircase Vernier training in both our study and Hung and Seitz's. The second experiment revealed that long-staircase training only produced very fast learning at the beginning of the pretraining session, but with no further learning afterward. Moreover, the learning and transfer effects differed insignificantly with a small effect size, making it difficult to support Hung and Seitz's claim that learning with long-staircase training cannot transfer to an untrained retinal location.
Topics: Discrimination Learning; Eye Movements; Female; Humans; Male; Orientation; Orientation, Spatial; Retina; Transfer, Psychology; Visual Perception; Young Adult
PubMed: 30550615
DOI: 10.1167/18.13.8 -
Human Brain Mapping Jul 2020Cognitive training should not only improve performance of the trained task, but also untrained abilities. Exposure to novelty can improve subsequent memory performance,...
Cognitive training should not only improve performance of the trained task, but also untrained abilities. Exposure to novelty can improve subsequent memory performance, suggesting that novelty exposure might be a critical factor to promote the effects of cognitive training. Therefore, we combined a 4-week working memory training with novelty exposure. Neuropsychological tests and MRI data were acquired before and after training to analyze behavior and changes in gray matter volume, myelination, and iron levels. In total, 83 healthy older humans participated in one of three groups: Two groups completed a 4-week computerized cognitive training of a two-back working memory task, either in combination with novel or with familiarized nature movies. A third group did not receive any training. As expected, both training groups showed improvements in task specific working memory performance and reaction times. However, there were no transfer or novelty effects on fluid intelligence, verbal memory, digit-span, and executive functions. At the neural level, no significant micro- or macrostructural changes emerged in either group. Our findings suggest that working memory training in healthy older adults is associated with task-specific improvements, but these gains do not transfer to other cognitive domains, and it does not lead to structural brain changes.
Topics: Aged; Aging; Brain; Executive Function; Female; Humans; Intelligence; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Mathematical Concepts; Memory, Short-Term; Middle Aged; Neuropsychological Tests; Practice, Psychological; Psychomotor Performance; Reaction Time; Recognition, Psychology; Transfer, Psychology; Verbal Learning
PubMed: 32180305
DOI: 10.1002/hbm.24965 -
Behavioural Processes Apr 2017An occasion setter is a stimulus that modulates the ability of another stimulus to control behavior. A rich history of experimental investigation has identified several... (Review)
Review
An occasion setter is a stimulus that modulates the ability of another stimulus to control behavior. A rich history of experimental investigation has identified several important properties that define occasion setters and the conditions that give rise to occasion setting. In this paper, we first consider the basic hallmarks of occasion setting in Pavlovian conditioning. We then review research that has examined the mechanisms underlying the crucial role of context in Pavlovian and instrumental extinction. In Pavlovian extinction, evidence suggests that the extinction context can function as a negative occasion setter whose role is to disambiguate the current meaning of the conditioned stimulus; the conditioning context can also function as a positive occasion setter. In operant extinction, in contrast, the extinction context may directly inhibit the response, and the conditioning context can directly excite it. We outline and discuss the key results supporting these distinctions.
Topics: Animals; Appetitive Behavior; Association Learning; Conditioning, Classical; Conditioning, Operant; Cues; Extinction, Psychological; Inhibition, Psychological; Rats; Transfer, Psychology
PubMed: 27720958
DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2016.10.003