The utility of sequence teaming tasks: theoretical status and empirical data

Sequence teaming tasks rue very simple choice reaction tasks which have become surprisingly popular in cognitive psychology. We analyse possible causes for this popularity by looking at the theoretical status of sequence teaming tasks, and we provide a sketch of the relevant research activities, Two categories of research activities are distinguished. First, sequence learning tasks are used to investigate dissociations between qualitatively different explicit (often referred to as 'conscious') and implicit (often referred to as 'unconscious') learning processes. Second, learning conditions are manipulated directly in order to analyse the mechanisms underlying sequence learning. We conclude that the claimed dissociations have yet to be demonstrated convincingly. Nevertheless, the use of sequence learning tasks can result in valuable contributions to the understanding of sequence learning mechanisms per se.