Abstract
Research spanning 100 years has revealed that learning a novel perception-action task is remarkably task-specific. With only a few exceptions, transfer is typically very small, even with seemingly small changes to the task. This fact has remained surprising given previous attempts to formalise the notion of what a task is, which have been dominated by common-sense divisions of tasks into parts. This article lays out an ecologically grounded alternative, ecological task dynamics, which provides us with tools to formally define tasks as experience from the first-person perspective of the learner. We explain this approach using data from a learning and transfer experiment using bimanual coordinated rhythmic movement as the task, and acquiring a novel coordination as the goal of learning. 10 participants were extensively trained to perform 60° mean relative phase; this learning transferred to 30° and 90°, against predictions derived from our previous work. We use recent developments in the formal model of the task to guide interpretation of the learning and transfer results.
Highlights
This article is the second part of a series of studies designed to investigate the perception-action mechanisms supporting learning and transfer of learning in coordinated rhythmic movement. Leach et al (2021) extensively trained 10 participants to produce 90◦ mean relative phase using coordination feedback (Wilson et al, 2010b)
These analyses provide the tools to investigate whether the observed pattern of learning at 60◦ had transferred to any of the other untrained relative phases (0◦, 30◦, 90◦, 120◦, 150◦, and 180◦)
There, learning to produce 90◦ transferred to 60◦ and 120◦ and this transfer was supported by the switch to using relative position to perceive relative phase
Summary
This article is the second part of a series of studies designed to investigate the perception-action mechanisms supporting learning and transfer of learning in coordinated rhythmic movement. Leach et al (2021) extensively trained 10 participants to produce 90◦ mean relative phase using coordination feedback (Wilson et al, 2010b). Leach et al (2021) extensively trained 10 participants to produce 90◦ mean relative phase using coordination feedback (Wilson et al, 2010b). As has been shown before (e.g., Wilson and Bingham, 2008) this training drove participants to stop trying to perceive relative phase with relative direction, and instead to use relative position. We replicated the design of Leach et al (2021) but trained participants on 60◦. We identified that this led to them switching information variables to relative position, but contrary to our predictions, this time the learning supported transfer to 30◦ and 90◦
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