Reducing Proactive Interference in Motor Tasks

Effects of motor restrictions on preparatory brain activity

“…First, in line with previous findings (Sperl and Cañal-Bruland, 2020b , c ), behavioral results revealed a large proactive interference effect after introduction of the rule change, visible in substantial increases in both IKSI and errors from Baseline to Rule Change (see Fig. 2 ).…”

“…The complete stimulus list and details on stimulus selection can be found in Online Resource 1 (Section B). To compare the two conditions irrespective of any influence of stimulus difficulty on typing performance, we used the same stimuli in both Baseline and Rule Change (see also Anderson et al 2009 ; Gordon et al 1994 ; Parasher et al 2001 ; Sperl and Cañal-Bruland 2020c ). We conducted ERP analyses only for trials with critical letters in the first position (stimulus- and response-locked) since ERPs for trials with critical letters in the fifth position were likely contaminated by previous keystrokes.…”

“…To empirically investigate interference effects arising from pre-existing, procedural motor skills, Sperl and colleagues recently established a novel experimental paradigm (see e.g., Sperl and Cañal-Bruland 2020b , c ; Sperl et al 2021b ). Specifically, they confronted participants with different types of rule changes that disrupted their highly automatized typing skill.…”

“…Sperl and colleagues recently conducted two behavioral studies using the reported typing paradigm by applying a finger bandage that physically precluded the movement of a to-be-avoided finger. They observed tendencies towards a potential positive effect on inhibition processes, visible in less performance decline after interference induction (Sperl and Cañal-Bruland 2020b , c ). In this context, another recent study by Bruno et al ( 2020 ) provided first evidence for reduced inhibition-related EEG activity in a Go-Nogo task following long-term limb immobilization of one week.…”