The learning, transfer, and relearning of movement sequences

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Our research has demonstrated that a movement structure develops during the course of learning a movement sequence that provides the basis for transfer and relearning. The structure is composed of concatenated subsequences (or chunks) that can be executed relatively seamlessly after considerable practice. Importantly, after developing a movement structure, participants have showed to be able to effectively rescale the sequence when movement demands require increases or decreases in amplitude, force, movement time, or the sequence must be produced with an unpracticed set of effectors provided the transfer conditions require proportional changes to the original sequence. Further, the sequence structure in some cases provide the basis for the learning new movement sequences or the relearning of modified sequences (proactive facilitation), but in other situations can actually be a hindrance to learning or relearning modified sequences (retroactive interference). This research is important for practical reasons such as designing training and retraining programs designed to improve motor skill and to health care professionals attempting to design effective movement therapies following stroke or traumatic brain injury. In addition, an understanding of the processes involved in performance, learning, and modification of motor sequences is important to theories of motor learning in general because movement sequences comprise a large proportion of our learned motor behaviors. In three additional experiments we will continue this line of research by looking at the way in which complex movement sequences are coded. Insights into the way in which sequences are represented could potentially provide the missing links required to propose a comprehensive theory of movement sequence performance and learning.