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Representing serial action and perception

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Abstract

This article presents a review on the representational base of sequence learning in the serial reaction time task. The first part of the article addresses the major questions and challenges that underlie the debate on implicit and explicit learning. In the second part, the informational content that underlies sequence representations is reviewed. The latter issue has produced a rich and equivocal literature. A taxonomy illustrates that substantial support exists for associations between successive stimulus features, between successive response features, and between successive response-to-stimulus compounds. We suggest that sequence learning is not predetermined with respect to one particular type of information but, rather, develops according to an overall principle of activation contingent on task characteristics. Moreover, substantiating such an integrative approach is proposed by a synthesis with the dual-system model (Keele, Ivry, Mayr, Hazeltine, & Heuer, 2003).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cognitive Psychology and Ergonomics, Faculty of Behavioral Sciences, University of Twente, P.O. Box 217, 7500 AE, Enschede, The Netherlands

    Elger L. Abrahamse & Willem B. Verwey

  2. University of Santiago, Santiago, Spain

    Luis Jiménez

  3. Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado

    Benjamin A. Clegg

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  1. Elger L. Abrahamse
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  2. Luis Jiménez
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  3. Willem B. Verwey
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  4. Benjamin A. Clegg
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Correspondence to Elger L. Abrahamse.

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E.L.A. was supported by a scholarship for Ph.D. students from the Fulbright Center.

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Abrahamse, E.L., Jiménez, L., Verwey, W.B. et al. Representing serial action and perception. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 17, 603–623 (2010). https://doi.org/10.3758/PBR.17.5.603

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