Retrieval shifts in spatial skill acquisition are collective rather than item-specific

Frank, David J; Macnamara, Brooke N.

doi:10.3758/s13421-019-00937-1

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 52 publications

(85 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…These solutions, if successful, can be consolidated for future use into long-term storage. Such a strategy can prove successful in the short-term, only relying on algorithmic performance in the absence of temporarily stored solutions, such as in the presence of novel stimuli (Frank and Macnamara, 2019)…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Such a strategy can prove successful in the short-term, only relying on algorithmic performance in the absence of temporarily stored solutions, such as in the presence of novel stimuli (Frank and Macnamara, 2019) However, when the task at hand has no explicit incentive to use retrieval right from the beginning (as in our studies), a more natural transition in the development of a skill could be starting with algorithmic processes, followed by working memory retrieval and long-term retrieval if the solutions are consolidated (Atkinson and Shiffrin, 1968). The inability to transition from algorithmic to retrieval strategies when working memory capacity is exceeded (McDougle and Taylor, 2019), highlight the relevance for the study of the latter to understand the successful acquisition of visuomotor skills.…”

Section: Automatization Of a Skillmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Working memory constraints for visuomotor retrieval strategies

Velázquez-Vargas,

Taylor

2024

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Recent work has shown the fundamental role that cognitive strategies play in visuomotor adaptation. While algorithmic strategies, such as mental rotation, are flexible and generalizable, they are computationally demanding. To avoid this computational cost, people can instead rely on memory retrieval of a previously successful strategy. However, they are likely subject to strict stimulus-response associations and rely heavily on working memory capacity. In the current work, we sought to reveal the constraints of retrieval strategies in visuomotor adaptation. In a series of five experiments, we sought to estimate the working memory capacity limitations of retrieval strategies for visuomotor adaptation. This was accomplished by leveraging different variations of visuomotor item-recognition and visuomotor rotation recall tasks where we associated unique rotations with specific targets in the workspace and manipulated the set size (i.e., number of rotation-target associations). Notably, from Experiment 1 to 4, we found key signatures of working memory retrieval and not mental rotation. In particular, participants were less accurate and slower for larger set sizes. Importantly, we estimated that participants’ capacity in our experiments was between 2-5 targets across experiments. In addition, we found clear recency effects where reaching movements were more accurate and faster for more recent items. These results were corroborated using model-based metrics from a Bayesian latent-mixture analysis over target error distributions. Finally, in Experiment 5, we showed how the constraints observed across Experiments 1 to 4 can be overcome when relying on long-term memory retrieval. Our results point to the opportunity of studying other sources of memories where visuomotor solutions can be stored (e.g., episodic memories) to achieve successful adaptation.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Automatization Of a Skillmentioning

confidence: 99%

Working memory constraints for visuomotor retrieval strategies

Velázquez-Vargas,

Taylor

2024

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Working memory constraints for visuomotor retrieval strategies

Velázquez-Vargas,

Taylor

2024

Journal of Neurophysiology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Recent work has shown the fundamental role that cognitive strategies play in visuomotor adaptation. While algorithmic strategies, such as mental rotation, are flexible and generalizable, they are computationally demanding. To avoid this computational cost, people can instead rely on memory retrieval of previously successful visuomotor solutions. However, such a strategy is likely subject to strict stimulus-response associations and rely heavily on working memory. In a series of five experiments, we sought to estimate the constraints in terms of capacity and precision of working memory retrieval for visuomotor adaptation. This was accomplished by leveraging different variations of visuomotor item-recognition and visuomotor rotation tasks where we associated unique rotations with specific targets in the workspace and manipulated the set size (i.e., number of rotation-target associations). Notably, from Experiment 1 to 4, we found key signatures of working memory retrieval and not mental rotation. In particular, participants were less accurate and slower for larger set sizes and less recent items. Using a Bayesian latent-mixture model, we found that such decrease in performance was the result of increasing guessing behavior and less precise memories. In addition we estimated that participants' working memory capacity was limited to 2-5 items, after which guessing increasingly dominated performance. Finally, in Experiment 5, we showed how the constraints observed across Experiments 1 to 4 can be overcome when relying on long-term memory retrieval. Our results point to the opportunity of studying other sources of memories where visuomotor solutions can be stored (e.g., episodic memories) to achieve successful adaptation.

show abstract

Retrieval shifts in spatial skill acquisition are collective rather than item-specific

Abstract: How do people improve their ability to intercept moving targets? Prior research and theories of skill acquisition suggest that individuals engage in item-specific retrieval shifts (

Cited by 2 publications

References 52 publications

Working memory constraints for visuomotor retrieval strategies

Working memory constraints for visuomotor retrieval strategies

Working memory constraints for visuomotor retrieval strategies

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About