ABSTRACT

Interest in the role of working-memory capacity in everyday abilities has recently extended to the acquisition of motor skills. This review article examines the role of working-memory capacity in two areas of motor skill acquisition: (1) adapting and correcting movements in response to errors, and (2) sequencing movement patterns. Across a number of studies it was evident that individuals with low or underdeveloped working-memory capacity experienced diminished learning when the practice contexts placed high demands on working memory. Verbal working-memory capacity was associated with the ability to correct movement errors, while several studies revealed the importance of spatial abilities, including spatial working-memory capacity, when learning movement adaptations. Visuo-spatial working-memory capacity correlated with movement sequence learning, either explicitly or implicitly, but old age affected this relationship. Despite these correlations, however, our understanding of the relationship between working-memory capacity and motor skill acquisition is clouded by inconsistent results and a reliance on correlational analyses. To extend understanding of the role of working-memory capacity in motor skill acquisition, researchers should seek to explore novel experimental paradigms that bear closer resemblance to everyday tasks.

摘要

对工作记忆能力在日常能力中的作用的兴趣最近已扩展到运动技能的获得。这篇综述文章探讨了工作记忆能力在运动技能获取的两个领域中的作用：（1）适应和纠正错误以响应运动，以及（2）排序运动模式。在许多研究中，很明显，当工作环境对工作记忆有很高的要求时，工作记忆能力低或不发达的人的学习能力就会下降。言语工作记忆能力与纠正运动错误的能力有关，而多项研究揭示了学习运动适应性时空间能力的重要性，包括空间工作记忆能力。视觉空间工作记忆能力与运动序列学习相关，不论是明示的还是暗含的，但是年老的人都影响了这种关系。尽管存在这些相关性，但是由于不一致的结果和对相关性分析的依赖，我们对工作记忆能力和运动技能习得之间的关系的理解变得模糊。为了扩展对工作记忆能力在运动技能习得中的作用的理解，研究人员应寻求探索与日常工作更相似的新颖实验范式。