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Trajectory Effects in a Novel Serial Reaction Time Task

This paper is available in a repository.
This paper is available in a repository.

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Preprint: policy unknown
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Postprint: policy unknown
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Abstract

The serial reaction time (SRT) task, which measures how par-ticipants' keypress responses speed up as a repeating stimulus sequence is learned, is popular in implicit and motor learn-ing research, and may help us understand the basic learning mechanisms underlying the acquisition of complex skills (e.g., riding a bike). However, complex action sequences are not simple stimulus-response chains, but rather require represent-ing sequential context in order to learn. Moreover, human ac-tions are continuous, temporally-extended movements that are not fully measured in the discrete button presses of the SRT task. Using a novel movement adaptation of the SRT task in which spatial locations are both stimuli and response options, participants were trained to move the mouse cursor to a contin-uous sequence of stimuli. We replicate the Nissen and Bulle-mer (1987) RT results with the trajectory SRT paradigm and show sequential context effects–predictive bends in response trajectories–that promise to reveal cognitive processes under-lying sequential action learning.