Fluid intelligence and working memory support dissociable aspects of learning by physical but not observational practice.

ABSTRACT: Humans have a remarkable ability to learn by watching others, whether learning to tie an elaborate knot or play the piano. However, the mechanisms that translate visual input into motor skill execution remain unclear. It has been proposed that common cognitive and neural mechanisms underpin learning motor skills by physical and observational practice. Here we provide a novel test of the common mechanism hypothesis by testing the extent to which certain individual differences predict observational as well as physical learning. Participants (N = 92 per group) either physically practiced a five-element key-press sequence or watched videos of similar sequences before physically performing trained and untrained sequences in a test phase. We also measured cognitive abilities across participants

SUBMITTER: Apsvalka D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6711769 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature