Learning-Induced Effects of Practice Schedule Variability on Stimuli Discrimination Efficiency: High-Density EEG Multi-scale Analyses of Contextual Interference Effect

Abstract

Contextual interference (CI) enhances motor learning by practicing skill variations in a random rather than blocked order. It has been demonstrated that performing aiming distances in a random order increased electrophysiological (EEG) markers of perceptual, attentional, and working memory processes. However, only the effect of CI on these markers before training was assessed, without evaluating whether they would decrease with learning in participants trained under the random compared to the blocked condition, indicating enhanced neural efficiency. To address this, 35 participants practiced an aiming task involving three distances over nine sessions across three weeks. They were divided into two groups: one trained with distances in a random order (HCI group) and the other in a blocked order (LCI group). Electrophysiological activity was recorded for all participants in the random condition before and after the training program using a high-density EEG multiscale approach, including topographical, source estimation, and source connectivity analyses. EEG analyses revealed post-training neural dynamic differences between groups. The HCI group showed reduced and shorter P3a-like activity compared to the LCI group, while the LCI group exhibited greater occipito-temporal-frontal gamma-band synchronization. These findings suggest that random practice enhances the efficiency of perceptual and attentional processes, particularly of stimuli discrimination, compared to blocked practice.