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Amir Mishreky Kin 255 Lab 4 Section 001 ID :20766906

Q1.

Figure 1: Time to target for Experiment A vs Experiment B 4.5 4 3.5

Time (s)

3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 Experiment A Response time Experiment B Response time

Trials and Conditions

Based on your Experiment A data, Q2 a) Describe your performance during the Control Condition and compare your results to those in the Training Condition. Was adaptation to the task achieved? Justify your answer. (3) During experiment A’s control conditions, I performed 10 trials, with Response times ranging from 0.387s to 0.858 seconds. During the control trials, I began with a response time that is close to the average of all my control trials and the rest of my trials were all around the same response time with my last trial being the fastest one. I performed 11 training trials and began at a time of 4.152 seconds and saw rapid improvements until trial 17 which I performed very quickly (1.462 s) and then plateaued at the last 4 training trials with a response time of approximately 2 seconds. Yes, short term adaptation was achieved as we saw an improvement In performance immediately due to repetition/practice (from 4.152 seconds to approximately 2 seconds). This is related to synaptic excitability not due to structural change in neural pathways as the improvements in performance were too rapid to cause a structural change.

2b) Examining the Retention trials allows you to assess learning. Describe your performance during the Retention Condition. Has Learning taken place? Justify your answer. (2) During the retention trials I began slowly compared to the rest of my retention trials but a whole second faster than how I began my Training trials. I began improving my response time with occasional spikes and quick drops in response time but with a general decreasing trend line. We know learning has taken place because there is a 1.151 second decrease in movement time between my training trials and my retention trials (4.152 seconds to 3.001 seconds), although these sections were separated by some time (minutes), the time between the training and retention trials was not long enough to cause any structural change in neural pathways, which is has occurred because the change was “relatively” permanent due to the retention period. Although the time between control and retention trials was very brief (minutes), which indicates that there was no structural change in the Nervous system as this would take hours/days/weeks. There is on the other hand, short term adaptation which is a result of changing synaptic weighting, and modulating existing neural pathways and network excitability which occurs over seconds/minutes and hours and don’t induce structural change in neural pathway. Also, because we had not tested for transfer of skill, this would again lead me to believe that this was only an improvement in sensorimotor performance due to short term adaptations.

3. Based on your graph, a) What affect did Dual-Tasking have on Control trials? Explain why. (2) Dual tasking caused the response time of the control trials to be on average longer than those in Experiment A. This shows that there is a dual task cost because it results in a difference in response times between the control times of experiment A and the control times of experiment B (Dual Task cost = 0.368seconds), this indicates that dual tasking has a negative effect on task performance with regards to response time, this is due to the additional cognitive processing required to be able to perform two tasks accurately.

b) Describe your performance during the Dual-Tasking Training Condition. How did this compare to your results in the Dual-Tasking Control Condition? (2) My performance during the dual task training conditions started approximately 1.5 seconds slower (2.923 seconds) than my control dual task trials started (1.438 seconds). I performed 10 trials with occasional spikes in response time, but the trend line shows an improvement in performance throughout the 10 trials, showing a graph representing that of the “law of practice”. I reached a plateau at around 1.4 seconds in the last 3 training trials. Compared to my control trials, my training trials showed a lot of improvement in performance as I was still learning what to do and was in early stages of learning where we see rapid improvement in performance.

c) What conclusion can you draw regarding the effects of Dual-Tasking on target aiming? (2) I would expect the response times in a dual task would be poorer in the learning phase (due to poorer performance associated with early stages in learning) compared to the single task trials(Experiment A), but not necessarily worse in the retention phases because with greater practice (and practice variability), task challenge, contextual interference, and appropriate feedback you could see more learning. During the training trials my performance was better in Experiment B than Experiment A, which is unexpected, this could be due to intrinsic motivation, figuring out the pattern quickly, resulting in moving to a higher stage of learning and the movement becoming more autonomous (not necessarily autonomous stage could be in the associative stage). I can make the conclusion that learning is improved in the dual task compared to single task, this is likely due to factors such as practice amount, practice variability and contextual interference that will result in an improved response time, which is seen when we compare average retention trials movement times in experiment A( 2.05 seconds) to the movement time in experiment B’s retention trials (1.45 seconds d) Examining the Retention trials allows you to assess learning. Describe your performance during the Dual-tasking Retention Condition. Has Learning taken place? What conclusion can you draw regarding the effects of Dual Tasking on Short-term Learning? (3) In the retention trials of Experiment B I began with a response time of 1.934 seconds which is approximately 1 second quicker than the training trials of Experiment B. There was a slow improvement in performance throughout the 10 trials and then I reached a plateau during the last 3 trials with a response time of approximately 1.3 seconds which is very close to the plateau in experiment B’s training Trials. From my graph I can see that the improvements in a dual task aren’t as large in magnitude as they are in a single task, in the 10 trials the improvements in response time was approximately 0.7 seconds while in Experiment A it was 1.6 seconds improvement, the law of practice graph isn’t as clear in a dual task. I could also see that because dual tasking with hard randomized conditions provides practice variability and high contextual interference it improved my short-term learning because my response time was faster than those in Experiment A in almost all trials. Learning on the other hand is also known as long term adaptation, which takes days/months/years to build. This is because in learning there is structural changes occurring in neural pathways. Due to time period being very small between training trials and retention trial learning has most likely not occurred but short term learning/adaptations have definitely occurred.

4. Short-term learning is achieved in seconds or minutes, whereas long-term learning may take days or months. What is the neuro-physiological difference between the mechanism involved in short-term learning versus long-term learning? (2)

In Long- term learning the mechanism by which it is achieved is by creating new synaptic connections, and more relatively permanent structural change in neurons/synapses. While in short term learning where changes in behaviour are more immediate, the mechanism by which this is achieved Is only a change in synaptic excitability(modulation) pre or post synaptically to make to make the synapses

associated with the information being used more easily excitable. this occur over seconds/minutes or hours.

5. According to Fitts and Posner, what stage of learning did you achieve during your training trials in Experiment B? Provide support for your answer. (2)

There are contradicting characteristics in my results during the training trials of Experiment B that would lead me to think of classifying my learning only in the cognitive stage. The large gains and amount of attention required to perform the task would indicate that I achieved only a cognitive stage, but on the other hand I did not receive any verbal guidance and my performance was neither slow nor variable, since this stage is referred to as the verbal-motor stage, but I received no verbal guidance I cannot say I achieved the cognitive stage. It is more likely that I achieved an associative stage of learning because here I was only refining skills, I had gotten used to in Experiment A (the motor aspect of the skill) while using my cognitive monitoring to make sure I was counting down appropriately. My performance was rapid compared to the learning trials in Experiment A and also less variable than my training trials in Experiment A. And finally I did see rapid improvements in performance (2.9 seconds to 1.3 seconds) but they were still slower comparatively to the improvements in the cognitive stage which is portrayed in the Training trials of Experiment A ( 4.152 seconds to 2.2 seconds). In conclusion, I had achieved the associative stage of learning during the training trials of Experiment B.

6. Describe the role that feedforward and feedback control play in both the Control Condition and the Training Condition. When did the need for feedback control become more prominent? Explain why. Provide a screenshot of the trajectory profiles as evidence to support your answer. (4)

Control Trajectory

Retention trajectory

The role feedforward has is initiating the movement of the cursor at a fast pace, since you are trying to move as fast as possible to the target. The role of feedback is adjusting the path during the trial in order to achieve maximal accuracy. In both control and training conditions the role of feedforward and feedback does not change, but the amplitude in which they come into play does change. During the control trials feedback is not as prominent as feedforward is because the task is very simple (low task complexity) and the pattern is very easy therefore your goal Is to reach the target as quick as possible.

On the other hand, during the training trials feedback is more prominent due to an increase in task complexity because the cursor does not follow your hand movements, this requires much more cortical processing and will result in slower movement time due to the time it takes to process the feedback of which direction the mouse will actually move....