Age‐related differences in sequence learning: Findings from two visuo‐motor sequence learning tasks

Urry, Kristi; Burns, Nicholas R.; Baetu, Irina

doi:10.1111/bjop.12299

Cited by 10 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…The participants also remained unaware of the test sequence, which is an indication that motor skill learning was largely implicit. The comparable group performance is not surprising because skill learning is generally preserved with age particularly when learning remains implicit and task complexity is low as in the SRTT task used here (Curran, 1997;Bennett et al, 2007;Brown et al, 2009;King et al, 2013;Meissner et al, 2016;Urry et al, 2018).…”

Section: The Acquisition Of Gms and Ss Skills Prior To The Stimulationmentioning

confidence: 80%

“…Conversely, a negative GMS score means that a participant performed slower on the second block. The SS score, on the other hand, indicates the increase in RT when switching from sequential blocks to random blocks which immediately followed (Nissen and Bullemer, 1987;Salthouse et al, 1999;Brown et al, 2009;Urry et al, 2018). Task routine is assumed to be equal in both blocks so that the RT difference represents implicit motor sequence learning (Pascual-Leone et al, 1994).…”

Section: Srtt Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Age-Dependent Effect of Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation on Motor Skill Consolidation

Fresnoza

Christova

Bieler

et al. 2020

Front. Aging Neurosci.

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Transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) is the application of subthreshold, sinusoidal current to modulate ongoing brain rhythms related to sensory, motor and cognitive processes. Electrophysiological studies suggested that the effect of tACS applied at an alpha frequency (8-12 Hz) was state-dependent. The effects of tACS, that is, an increase in parieto-occipital electroencephalography (EEG) alpha power and magnetoencephalography (MEG) phase coherence, was only observed when the eyes were open (low alpha power) and not when the eyes were closed (high alpha power). This state-dependency of the effects of alpha tACS might extend to the aging brain characterized by general slowing and decrease in spectral power of the alpha rhythm. We additionally hypothesized that tACS will influence the motor cortex, which is involved in motor skill learning and consolidation. A group of young and old healthy adults performed a serial reaction time task (SRTT) with their right hand before and after the tACS stimulation. Each participant underwent three sessions of stimulation: sham, stimulation applied at the individual participant's alpha peak frequency or individual alpha peak frequency (iAPF; α-tACS) and stimulation with iAPF plus 2 Hz (α2-tACS) to the left motor cortex for 10 min (1.5 mA). We measured the effect of stimulation on general motor skill (GMS) and sequence-specific skill (SS) consolidation. We found that α-tACS and α2-tACS improved GMS and SS consolidation in the old group. In contrast, α-tACS minimally improved GMS consolidation but impaired SS consolidation in the young group. On the other hand, α2-tACS was detrimental to the consolidation of both skills in the young group. Our results suggest that individuals with aberrant alpha rhythm such as the elderly could benefit more from tACS stimulation, whereas for young healthy individuals with intact alpha rhythm the stimulation could be detrimental.

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Section: The Acquisition Of Gms and Ss Skills Prior To The Stimulationmentioning

confidence: 80%

Section: Srtt Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Age-Dependent Effect of Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation on Motor Skill Consolidation

Fresnoza

Christova

Bieler

et al. 2020

Front. Aging Neurosci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Using raw RT measures, we observed a U-shaped trajectory with children and older adults exhibiting greater general skill learning compared to adolescents and younger adults. In contrast, when we used RT ratio scores (which is a common approach to control for differences in average speed across groups; see e.g., [44, 45]), the developmental trajectory was no longer U-shaped. Our results showed an advantage for children compared to adults, while the older adults (the 61-85-year-old group) no longer exhibited greater general skill learning compared to the younger adults, suggesting that the greater speed-up observed in raw RT measures may due to different factors in children vs. older adults, even if both age groups show slower average speed compared to young adults.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is there more room to improve? The lifespan trajectory of procedural learning and its relationship to the between- and within-group differences in average response times

2019

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Characterizing the developmental trajectories of cognitive functions such as learning, memory and decision making across the lifespan faces fundamental challenges. Cognitive functions typically encompass several processes that can be differentially affected by age. Methodological issues also arise when comparisons are made across age groups that differ in basic performance measures, such as in average response times (RTs). Here we focus on procedural learning–a fundamental cognitive function that underlies the acquisition of cognitive, social, and motor skills–and demonstrate how disentangling subprocesses of learning and controlling for differences in average RTs can reveal different developmental trajectories across the human lifespan. Two hundred-seventy participants aged between 7 and 85 years performed a probabilistic sequence learning task that enabled us to separately measure two processes of procedural learning, namely general skill learning and statistical learning. Using raw RT measures, in between -group comparisons, we found a U-shaped trajectory with children and older adults exhibiting greater general skill learning compared to adolescents and younger adults. However, when we controlled for differences in average RTs (either by using ratio scores or focusing on a subsample of participants with similar average speed), only children (but not older adults) demonstrated superior general skill learning consistently across analyses. Testing the relationship between average RTs and general skill learning within age groups shed light on further age-related differences, suggesting that general skill learning measures are more affected by average speed in some age groups. Consistent with previous studies of learning probabilistic regularities, statistical learning showed a gradual decline across the lifespan, and learning performance seemed to be independent of average speed, regardless of the age group. Overall, our results suggest that children are superior learners in various aspects of procedural learning, including both general skill and statistical learning. Our study also highlights the importance to test, and control for, the effect of average speed on other RT measures of cognitive functions, which can fundamentally affect the interpretation of group differences in developmental, aging and clinical psychology and neuroscience studies.

show abstract

“…Using raw RT measures, we observed a U-shaped trajectory with children and older adults exhibiting greater general skill learning compared to adolescents and younger adults. In contrast, when we used RT ratio scores (which is a common approach to control for differences in average speed across groups; see e.g., Nitsche et al, 2003;Urry, Burns, & Baetu, 2018), the developmental trajectory was no longer U-shaped. Our results showed an advantage for children compared to adults, while the older adults (the 61-85-year-old group) no longer exhibited greater general skill learning compared to the younger adults, suggesting that the greater speed-up observed in raw RT measures may due to different factors in children vs. older adults, even if both age groups show slower average speed compared to young adults.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is there more room to improve? The lifespan trajectory of procedural learning and its relationship to the between- and within-group differences in average response times

Juhasz

Németh

Janacsek

2019

Preprint

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Characterizing the developmental trajectories of cognitive functions such as learning, memory and decision making across the lifespan faces fundamental challenges. Cognitive functions typically encompass several processes that can be differentially affected by age.Methodological issues also arise when comparisons are made across age groups that differ in basic performance measures, such as in average response times (RTs). Here we focus on procedural learning -a fundamental cognitive function that underlies the acquisition of cognitive, social, and motor skills -and demonstrate how disentangling subprocesses of learning and controlling for differences in average RTs can reveal different developmental trajectories across the human lifespan. Two hundred-seventy participants aged between 7 and 85 years performed a probabilistic sequence learning task that enabled us to separately measure two processes of procedural learning, namely general skill learning and statistical learning. Using raw RT measures, in between-group comparisons, we found a U-shaped trajectory with children and older adults exhibiting greater general skill learning compared to adolescents and younger adults. However, when we controlled for differences in average RTs (either by using ratio scores or focusing on a subsample of participants with similar average speed), only children (but not older adults) demonstrated superior general skill learning consistently across analyses. Testing the relationship between average RTs and general skill learning within age groups shed light on further age-related differences, suggesting that general skill learning measures are more affected by average speed in some age groups.Consistent with previous studies of learning probabilistic regularities, statistical learning showed a gradual decline across the lifespan, and learning performance seemed to be independent of average speed, regardless of the age group. Overall, our results suggest that children are superior learners in various aspects of procedural learning, including both general skill and statistical learning. Our study also highlights the importance to test, and control for, the effect of average speed on other RT measures of cognitive functions, which can fundamentally affect the interpretation of group differences in developmental, aging and clinical psychology and neuroscience studies.

show abstract

Age‐related differences in sequence learning: Findings from two visuo‐motor sequence learning tasks

Cited by 10 publications

References 48 publications

Age-Dependent Effect of Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation on Motor Skill Consolidation

Age-Dependent Effect of Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation on Motor Skill Consolidation

Is there more room to improve? The lifespan trajectory of procedural learning and its relationship to the between- and within-group differences in average response times

Is there more room to improve? The lifespan trajectory of procedural learning and its relationship to the between- and within-group differences in average response times

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