Procedural learning: A developmental study of motor sequence learning and probabilistic classification learning in school-aged children

Abstract

In this study, we investigated motor and cognitive procedural learning in typically developing children aged 8-12 years with a serial reaction time (SRT) task and a probabilistic classification learning (PCL) task. The aims were to replicate and extend the results of previous SRT studies, to investigate PCL in school-aged children, to explore the contribution of declarative knowledge to SRT and PCL performance, to explore the strategies used by children in the PCL task via a mathematical model, and to see whether performances obtained in motor and cognitive tasks correlated. The results showed similar learning effects in the three age groups in the SRT and in the first half of the PCL tasks. Participants did not develop explicit knowledge in the SRT task whereas declarative knowledge of the cue-outcome associations correlated with the performances in the second half of the PCL task, suggesting a participation of explicit knowledge after some time of exposure in PCL. An increasing proportion of the optimal strategy use with increasing age was observed in the PCL task. Finally, no correlation appeared between cognitive and motor performance. In conclusion, we extended the hypothesis of age invariance from motor to cognitive procedural learning, which had not been done previously. The ability to adopt more efficient learning strategies with age may rely on the maturation of the fronto-striatal loops. The lack of correlation between performance in the SRT task and the first part of the PCL task suggests dissociable developmental trajectories within the procedural memory system. Procedural learning belongs to the non-declarative or implicit learning system and refers to the ability to learn complex information without awareness. It consists in a progressive improvement of skills, without explicit knowledge or voluntary recall. Unlike declarativeWe are grateful to J. Mayor, M. Dubois and A. Posada for their help in the adaptation of the paradigms. We also thank F. Ludwig, Head of the School of St-Prex, and all the children and their parents who agreed to participate to these experiments.

Procedural learning across the lifespan: A systematic review with implications for atypical development

“…However, this pattern was reversed in older adults with those instructed performing worse than those who were not. In children, it is believed that the declarative learning system becomes more efficient and more prominent during development (e.g., Janacsek et al, 2012;Mayor-Dubois et al, 2016). Hence, older children may rely more on this declarative system, which could lead to better performance when task demands are low, but to worse performance when task demands are high, irrespective of their procedural learning ability.…”

“…A lower overall accuracy in younger compared to older children has also been reported (Karatekin et al ., ; Meulemans et al ., ), with one study showing a proportionally higher error rate for random trials compared to sequenced (learned) trials for the youngest group (Meulemans et al ., ), suggesting a stronger learning effect. The two other studies did not find accuracy differences between age groups (Mayor‐Dubois et al ., ; Thomas & Nelson, ).…”

“…One longitudinal study over a 12month period showed that the procedural learning effect is similar in 5.5-and 6.5year-olds (Lum, Kidd, Davis, & Conti-Ramsden, 2010). Two studies have reported greater gains in RT measures during initial learning for younger compared to older children (i.e., Karatekin, Marcus, & White, 2007;Mayor-Dubois, Zesiger, Van der Linden, & Roulet-Perez, 2016), which could be interpreted as stronger learning and hence evidence for Model 2b. However, the authors of both studies argued that higher baseline RTs in the younger groups allow for more RT gains, and hence, a difference in baseline speed, rather than in learning, caused the findings.…”

Procedural learning and retention of audio‐verbal temporal sequence is altered in children with developmental coordination disorder but cortical thickness matters

“…Procedural skills implying rhythm and timing require an efficient procedural memory, a system that is supposed to be robust and early mature (Mayor‐Dubois, Zesiger, Van der Linden, & Roulet‐Perez, 2016; Meulemans, Van der Linden, & Perruchet, 1998; Reber, 1993; Thomas & Nelson, 2001). Learning, and especially procedural motor learning, has been investigated for many years in children with typical development and neurodevelopmental disorders (Gheysen, Van Waelvelde, & Fias, 2011; Lejeune, Catale, Willems, & Meulemans, 2013; Lum, Conti‐Ramsden, Morgan, & Ullman, 2014; Lum, Ullman, & Ramsden, 2013; Wilson, Maruff, & Lum, 2003).…”

Acquisition of Motor and Cognitive Skills through Repetition in Typically Developing Children

“…Their results suggested that the ability to learn a sequence rapidly under incidental conditions is mature by 8 to 10 years of age. In a recent study, examining motor and cognitive procedural learning (SRT and PCL) the results showed similar learning effects in three age groups (8, 10 and 12 years old) [ 74 ]. Schacter & Moscovitch [ 75 ] have suggested that the brain structures involved in implicit memory develop before those crucial for explicit memory.…”