Learning of a motor serial skill in different stages of development

Abstract

This study investigated the learning of a serial tracking task in different developmental stages. Fifteen children, fourteen adults and thirteen elderly practiced the task of tracking a sequence of six light stimuli for ten blocks of trial or until discover the sequence, during the stabilization phase, and two blocks of trial at the adaptation tests I and II. Performance was measured by the functional and non-functional responses and functional sequences. The results showed that adults were superior to the other participants, and elderly participants performed better than children only in the early practice, suggesting that the development stage interacts with the process of motor learning.