RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Simultaneous Acquisition of Multiple Auditory–Motor Transformations in Speech
JF The Journal of Neuroscience
JO J. Neurosci.
FD Society for Neuroscience
SP 2657
OP 2662
DO 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.6020-10.2011
VO 31
IS 7
A1 Amélie Rochet-Capellan
A1 David J. Ostry
YR 2011
UL http://www.jneurosci.org/content/31/7/2657.abstract
AB The brain easily generates the movement that is needed in a given situation. Yet surprisingly, the results of experimental studies suggest that it is difficult to acquire more than one skill at a time. To do so, it has generally been necessary to link the required movement to arbitrary cues. In the present study, we show that speech motor learning provides an informative model for the acquisition of multiple sensorimotor skills. During training, subjects were required to repeat aloud individual words in random order while auditory feedback was altered in real-time in different ways for the different words. We found that subjects can quite readily and simultaneously modify their speech movements to correct for these different auditory transformations. This multiple learning occurs effortlessly without explicit cues and without any apparent awareness of the perturbation. The ability to simultaneously learn several different auditory–motor transformations is consistent with the idea that, in speech motor learning, the brain acquires instance-specific memories. The results support the hypothesis that speech motor learning is fundamentally local.