Browsing by Subject "Learning ability"

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Effects of practice variability and distribuion of practice on musicians' performance of a procedural skill
(2007) Simmons, Amy L., 1974-; Duke, Robert A.
I designed three experiments to determine how procedural memory consolidation in a music task is affected by practice under different conditions of speed regulation and different time intervals between practice sessions. Ninety-two nonpianist musicians practiced a 9-note sequence with their nondominant hand on a digital piano in three sessions, each of which comprised 3 blocks of 15 performance trials. In Experiment 1 (n= 31), participants were instructed to perform as quickly and accurately as possible but determined their own tempos in each trial. In Experiment 2 (n = 31), three defined practice tempos (M. M. = 52, 72, and 92) were externally regulated in a stable practice procedure in which tempo changed between, not within, blocks. In Experiment 3 (n =30), the same three tempos were externally regulated in a variable practice procedure in which practice tempo changed from trial to trial within each block. In each experiment, three different groups' practice sessions were separated by either 5 min, 6 hr, or 24 hr. Consistent with previous descriptions of procedural memory consolidation, the results of Experiment 1 show that note accuracy improved significantly between Sessions 1 and 2 only when the sessions were separated by a 24-hr interval that included sleep; performance speed improved in all groups between Sessions 1 and 2, and between Sessions 2 and 3 when sessions were separated by 6 or 24 hr. In Experiment 2 (stable practice) there were significant improvements in note and tempo accuracy between Sessions 1 and 2 when those sessions were separated by 5 min or 6 hr, but not when the sessions were separated by 24 hr. In Experiment 3 (variable practice), note accuracy improved between Sessions 1 and 2 only when the sessions were separated by a 24-hour interval that included sleep; there were no significant improvements in tempo accuracy, perhaps due to the high physical demands of matching varying target tempos in successive trials. These results demonstrate that motor skill learning in music is affected by the time interval between practice sessions, and that the effects of distributed practice are dependent upon practice conditions.
Procedural memory consolidation in musicians
(2007-08) Allen, Sarah Elizabeth, 1977-; Duke, Robert A.
Procedural memory consolidation has been shown to enhance a variety of perceptual and motor skills during sleep. Only recently has this effect been investigated in trained musicians performing music. I tested the extent to which a music performance skill benefited from sleep-based consolidation overnight and whether this process may be inhibited when musicians learn two melodies in juxtaposition. 60 experienced musicians, all nonpianists, learned to perform either one or two 13-note piano melodies during evening training sessions. The musicians practiced each melody with their nondominant hand by repeating it from beginning to end during 12 30-second practice blocks alternating with 30-second rest intervals. All participants were retested on the target melody the following morning in three 30-second retest blocks alternating with 30-second rest intervals. Participants who learned only one melody in the evening showed overnight gains in the number of correct key presses per block (CKP/B) in the target melody at retest. Participants who learned the target melody and an additional melody at training showed no overnight gains in CKP/B in the target melody. Participants who learned both melodies and then immediately were retested on the target melody at training showed overnight gains in CKP/B in the morning retest of the target melody--gains similar to those observed among the participants who learned only the target melody at training; this group showed no decrement in the performance of the target melody in the retest at the end of training, which indicates that there were no immediate interference effects apparent in the target melody after having learned the second melody. These results show that experienced learners performing a familiar type of task, and one that includes auditory processing demands, benefit from overnight consolidation of procedural memories. These benefits may be inhibited, however, when musicians learn similar, competing tasks in juxtaposition.