Task-relevant chunking in sequence learning.

In the present study, we investigated possible influences on the unitization of responses. In Experiments 1, 2, 3, and 6, we found that when the same small fragment (i.e., a few consecutive responses in a sequence) was presented as part of two larger sequences, participants responded to it faster when it was part of the sequence that was presented more often. This indicates that chunking can be driven by task-relevant considerations, as opposed to co-occurrence. The results are discussed in the context of chunking theories and the relevant motor learning literature.