Not for Kids: 2nd Grade School Children Require More Practice Than Adults to Attain Long-Term Gains in a Graphomotor Task

We extended the results of a previous study suggesting that although practice in a grapho-motor task by 7-to 8-year-olds led to gains in within-session performance, no long-term gains were achieved. We then compared practice dose effects on learning and retaining the grapho-motor skill in 55 7-to 8-year-olds and in 57 young adults (18-34 years old). Participants practiced the production of an artificial letter by connecting dots. In both children and adults, 6-blocks of practice (15 letter iterations per block) led to gains in speed and accuracy. However, young adults showed retention overnight and additional gains at 4-5 weeks post-training, while the children's performance returned to baseline levels. Doubling the practice dose to12-blocks resulted in speed and accuracy gains that were retained in both age groups. Thus, 7-to 8-year-olds may require larger doses of practice than young adults to trigger long-term, how-to memory for grapho-motor skills.