Evidence for a multistage model of practice in a sequential movement task

This study explored the effects of practice when discrete keypress sequences were produced in response to a stimulus. Eighteen students practiced 3 sequences with consistent stimulus-sequence mappings and 2 sequences with varied mappings in a 2,500-trial practice phase. In 2 subsequent transfer phases, the performance effects were assessed of a preceding serial reaction time task and of reversal of 2 consistently practiced stimulus-sequence mappings. The results are explained by the development of 3 types of memory codes (stimulus¿response associations, stimulus¿response rules, and motor chunks) that are used at 2 independent stages in a serial information-processing stage architecture