A kinematically complex multi-articular motor skill for investigating implicit motor learning

Here we present a task developed to probe implicit learning of a complex motor skill. This task addresses limitations related to task complexity noted in the literature for methods investigating implicit motor learning, namely the serial reaction time task and continuous tracking task. Specifically, the serial reaction time task is limited by the kinematic simplicity of the required movement and the continuous tracing task faces time-on-task confounds and limitations in the control of task difficulty. The task presented herein addresses these issues by employing a kinematically complex multi-articular movement that controls factors that contribute to task difficulty: stimulus animation velocity and trajectory complexity. Accordingly, our objective was to validate the use of this task in probing implicit motor learning, hypothesizing that participants would learn one of the repeating stimuli implicitly. Participants engaged in six blocks of training whereby they first observed and then reproduced a seemingly random complex trajectory. Repeated trajectories were embedded amongst random trajectories. In line with the hypothesis, error for the repeated trajectories was decreased in comparison to that observed for the random trajectories and 73% of participants were unable to identify one of the repeated trajectories, demonstrating the occurrence of implicit learning. While the task requires minor alteration to optimize learning, ultimately the findings underline the task’s potential to investigate implicit learning of a complex motor skill.