Older Adults' Decisions while Learning Movement Sequences via Self-Regulated Forward Chaining

Chaining is an established instructional technique to train older adults’ motor skills. However, self-regulated chaining has not yet been systematically studied. This study adopted the paradigm of deferred imitation learning to study the selection of practice goals and restudy choices by N=161 older adults during self-regulated forward chaining of a typing sequence. It was hypothesized that the choice of chain length during practice is influenced by two metacognitive heuristics: stability bias and the memory-for-past-test heuristic. The results demonstrated that older adults were able to establish a movement sequence through self-regulated chaining. Linear mixed growth modeling was used to analyze the growth of the chain length during practice. The results were consistent with the hypotheses. The choice of chain length for an upcoming learning cycle was based on the chain length in the previous learning cycle. A shorter chain was chosen after a dysfluent performance in the previous cycle than after a fluent performance.