Buffer Loading and Chunking in Sequential Keypressing (Het Laden van de MotorBuffer Versus Het Gebruik van Motor Chunks bij Sequentieule Toetsdrukseries)

摘要

An experiment is reported on the effects of extensive practice in a task in whicha succession of nine keys was pressed with separate fingers, each keypress in response to a corresponding stimulus. Trials followed each other without interruption. A stimulus was usually presented immediately upon depressing the previous key but at two or three positions in the Structured condition, a stimulus was preceded by a variable Response Stimulus Interval (RSI). This partitioned the sequence into two or three groups of responses. In the Practice phase performance improved more slowly in Unstructured than in Structured: Performance in Unstructured relied on the alleged slow chunk development while performance in Structured relied on the probably faster development of advance buffer loading. In addition, response groups in Unstructured were executed more slowly than in Structured suggesting concurrent preparation. The Transfer phase showed little effect of earlier practice on new response groups unless there is ample opportunity for advance preparation and the group is relatively short. A two level model of sequence production is proposed involving a slowly developing, sequence-specific chunk which is used to control sequence execution, and a rapidly evolving, sequence-aspecific execution mechanism involving advance programming and concurrent processing which translates abstract order information into actual movements. Motor skills, Reaction time, Workload.