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Clinical Trial
. 2019 Jan 10;14(1):e0210658.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0210658. eCollection 2019.

Different post-training processes in children's and adults' motor skill learning

Esther Adi-Japha  1   2 , Roni Berke  1 , Nehama Shaya  1 , Mona S Julius  3
Affiliations
Clinical Trial

Different post-training processes in children's and adults' motor skill learning

Esther Adi-Japha et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Do young children and adults share similar underlying motor skill learning mechanisms? Past studies have shown that school-aged children's speed of performance developed over wake periods of a few hours post-training. Such training-dependent gains were not found in adults. In the current study of children as young as 5-years-old and young adults who practiced a simple grapho-motor task, this finding was replicated only by the children that showed faster performance a few hours post-training. These positive gains in performance speed were retained two weeks later. Furthermore, among the children, variations in gains attained a few hours post-training were associated with initial performance level. These behavioral findings indicate different underlying post-training processes in children's and adults' motor skill learning thus, supporting differential tutoring of skills.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. The invented letter stimuli.
(A) A single stimulus. Writing direction A-B-C. (B) A block of the invented letter task. Writing direction is from right-to-left.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Speed and accuracy (mean and SE): Initial-training (pre, blocks 1–4 on Day 1), end-of-training (post, blocks 9–12 on Day 1), 2- or 4- hours post-training (2/4 h-post), and 2 weeks post-training (2wk-post).
(A) Time per block. (B) Number of correctly produced shapes (of 15). Bonferroni, black star, p < .001, blue star, p < .02.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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