Consolidation of perceptual sequence knowledge

Whereas previous research demonstrated that motor sequence knowledge is consolidated over time, less is known about the consolidation of perceptual sequence knowledge. In the current study, the consolidation of motor and perceptual sequence knowledge was investigated using comparable designs, with participants performing two sessions of an adapted serial reaction time (SRT) task. In the SRT task, a task in which sequenced information is implicitly learned, a target letter pair ("OX" or "XO") was presented in one of four locations. While target identity changed randomly, target location was structured according to a probabilistic sequence. In the motor condition, participants responded to the location of the target letter pair (relevant sequenced location dimension). Participants in the perceptual condition, on the other hand, responded to the randomly varying target identity (irrelevant sequenced location dimension). Following the initial acquisition session, participants were retested after 1, 4 or 24 hours delay in order to assess consolidation of sequence knowledge. The results indicated that participants learned the sequenced information at the end of the acquisition session, and this knowledge was preserved after 1, 4 and 24 hours in both the motor and the perceptual condition. Accordingly, our results suggest that perceptual sequence knowledge is, like motor sequence knowledge, consolidated over time.