Dual-Task and Single-Task Practice Does Not Influence the Attentional Demands of Movement Sequence Representations

Abstract

This study examined the attentional demands of movement sequence representations at different temporal points after single- or dual-task practice. The visual-spatial representation encodes the movement based on visual-spatial coordinates such as the target locations. The motor representation encodes the movement in motor coordinates including joint angles and muscle activation patterns. Participants were randomly assigned to a single-task or dual-task practice group. Following acquisition, participants performed two retention tests and inter-manual transfer tests, both under dual-task and single-task. The transfer tests consisted of a mirror and non-mirror test and examined motor and visual-spatial representation development. The main finding is that attentional demands of the sequence representations were not affected by the practice condition. However, movement initiation requires more attention than the end of the movement in both representations.