Age-differentiated analysis of the influence of the duration of breaks on learning sensorimotor tasks

In this paper, the influence of the duration of breaks on the learning time of sensorimotor tasks is investigated. For this purpose, a laboratory study with 48 participants in two age groups was conducted. The experimental task was the repeated assembly of a gear. After each trial participants had a break. Depending on the experimental condition the breaks were 2, 4, 8 or 16 minutes long. To evaluate the performance, execution times and assembly errors were measured in each trial. The results show significant learning effects and a significant difference between the execution times of both age groups. No significant difference was found between these groups concerning assembly errors. The duration of breaks did not influence performance.