Retention and adaptive control of force patterns in finger-tapping sequences

The present study was designed to examine whether a serial force pattern in the finger-tapping sequences was retained and adaptively controlled. On pr actice trials, 15 male college students tapped a force plate connected to s train gauges which provided feedback. On test trials, subjects recalled the force pattern and the intertap interval acquired during practice without f eedback (recalled task), Next, subjects adaptively tapped the acquired forc e pattern at the half (speeded task) and twice the intertap interval acquir ed during practice (slowed task). Analysis showed that the force patterns w ere quite precisely retained across tasks, and the relative force pattern w as retained. Although there was no difference for force between be slowed a nd the recalled task, the force in the speeded task differed from that in t he recalled task. This indicated that changing to a fast pace creates a mor e difficult adaptive task than changing to a slow pace.