The Role of Errors based on the Complexity in Learning a Motor Sequential Task in Elderly Women

Abstract

Introduction: One of the most important topics in the field of movement behavior is the acquisition of movement sequences, which is an important part of every person's life and the basis of many intelligent human behaviors. The aim of the study was to investigate the effectiveness of errorfull and errorless training based on complexity in the acquisition, retention and transfer of a motor sequential task in elderly women with emphasis on processing needs. Methods: This semi-experimental study was conducted on 30 healthy elderly women over 60 years of age that were selected and randomly allocated into errorless and errorful groups. Then, they performed a sequence motor task assigned by the Serial Reaction Time Task software in the three phases of acquisition, retention, and transfer. In order to analyze the data, ANOVA with repeated measures, Wilcoxon test, Mann-Whitney U test and the independent samples t-test were conducted. Results: A significant improvement was seen in the reaction time and the number of errors in both groups (p < 0.05). Also, the errorless group recorded a shorter reaction time than the errorful group in the acquisition, retention and transfer tests. However, the errorful group made fewer errors in the retention and transfer tests than the errorless group. Conclusion: Errorfull and errorless training are effective on reaction time and amount of errors in the retention and transfer stages of a motor sequential task in elderly women. However, It is suggested that trainers use errorfull training methods in motor sequential tasks in order to reduce the error rate and provide a more optimal learning environment.

Keywords

• error
• complexity
• motor sequential task
• processing load
• aged