Memory for order of operations in the acquisition and transfer of sequential cognitive skills

The authors report a series of experiments in which questions about the nature of memory for the order of processing operations in sequential processing skills (i.e., skills that require proper sequencing of a set of component operations) were addressed. Evidence from 3 studies of a sequential number computation skill suggested that memory for processing sequences that are general to many instances is more instrumental than sequence memory that is instance specific. Results generalized over task versions that differed markedly in the number of processing sequences and the number of unique stimulus instances per sequence. General sequence memory appeared to develop relatively early in practice and to underlie errors in transfer that resembled einstellung effects. The findings are discussed with respect to memory mechanisms postulated in recent theories of skill acquisition.