Multistable states in intrahemispheric learning of a sensorimotor task

Abstract

We have obtained evidence from an intrahemispheric learning task using a choice-reaction-time paradigm that the acquisition of a sensorimotor skill can be discontinuous. Subjects had to react as fast as possible to either a visual or an auditory stimulus. In several successive sessions, reaction times improved markedly, however in a discontinuous way. Different levels of performance were characterized by discrete functional states, each state being associated with a particular temporal window. After sufficient learning, reactions were confined to the earlier of two such windows.