Anticipatory response control in motor sequence learning: Evidence from stimulus–response compatibility

Three experiments using a serial four-choice reaction-time (RT) task explored the interaction of sequence learning and stimulus-based response conflict. In Experiment 1, the spatial stimulus–response (S–R) mapping was manipulated between participants. Incompatible S–R mappings produced much higher RTs than the compatible mapping, but sequence learning decreased this S–R compatibility effect. In Experiment 2, the spatial stimulus feature was made task-irrelevant by assigning responses to symbols that were presented at unpredictable locations. The data indicated a Simon effect (i.e., increased RT when irrelevant stimulus location is spatially incompatible with response location) that was reduced by sequence learning. However, this effect was observed only in participants who developed an explicit sequence representation. Experiment 3 replicated this learning-based modulation of the Simon effect using explicit sequence-learning instructions. Taken together, the data support the notion that explicit sequence learning can lead to motor ‘chunking’, so that pre-planned response sequences are shielded from conflicting stimulus information.