Experiment Code:
TONSEQ_FY_IPLM_001

Introduction & Research Question:
The study sought to investigate how sequence learning under incidental conditions was differentially effected by the presence of two tones (high and low) that occurred concurrently with on screen stimuli which followed a sequence. Based on simulations of human performance on the task, we expected that having tones that corresponded with on-screen response stimuli locations (Current: i.e. left = high and right = low) would produce LESS learning than having tones that corresponded with the previous response stimulus locations (Previous). There was also a Random group, who experienced no relationship between Tone and Response Location.

Participants:
72

Experiment Software:
MatLab

Method:
Participants responded with two spatially compatible key presses (x and >) to left and right circle flashes on screen, which lit up 500msecs after an inter-trial interval. These circle flashes followed a probabilistic sequence, whereby on 2/3rds of trials the current trial was the Same as the trial two trials previous. Therefore the (consistent) subsequences LLL, LRL, RRR and RLR were twice as likely as (inconsistent) subsequences LLR, LRR, RRL and RLL. Participants were not informed of these contingencies and simply instructed to respond quickly and accurately to the stimuli while listening to tones that were played through headphones. These tones were high (750 hertz) or low (300 hertz) and occurred for 50msecs at the same time as the response stimuli occurred on every trial. Depending on the between-subject group participants were assigned to, participants either experienced these tones as corresponding with the current on-screen stimulus location (Current); the previous on-screen stimulus location (Previous); or simply random (Random). The high and low tones were counterbalanced for left and right locations across participants.  Participants completed two sessions separated by at least two hours and finally responded to a structured interview. 

Experimenter:
Fayme Yeates

Location:
Rooms: 230-1, 230-2, 228-2
Washington Singer Laboratories, University of Exeter

Date:
11/2013

Data file format:
.csv

Data file names:
TONSEQ_FY_IPLM_001_DA (Contains averaged participant data)
TONSEQ_FY_IPLM_001_training_xxx (Contains each response made across training and test for each participant, whose numbers replace the xxx)