LAUSR

Taking a break from learning is common in our daily life. Breaks are often filled with different activities, which range from wakeful resting, listening to music to more popular behaviours such as using social media and playing video games. The influence of such break activities on different learning types, however, remains to be explored. To investigate the effects of different break activities on different learning-associated tasks (auditory and visual learning, working memory and habitual and goal-directed reinforcement learning), right-handed healthy native German young adults were recruited through advertisements in Berlin. Participants were screened for major psychiatric disorders (SCIDI screening questionnaire) and underwent neuropsychological testing. Social and demographical data, video gaming and music listening habits were gathered. Participants were instructed to engage in “eyesopen resting” (rest quietly with their eyes open), “listening to music” (Mozarts “Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major, KV. 448 — Allegro con spirito” over headphones) and “playing a video game” (play the “Angry Birds” video game on a laptop computer) during an 8:30 min break. A within-subjects design was used. The presentation order of the different testing task versions and the order of the different break activities were counterbalanced across participants. Participants were randomly assigned to one of the presentation and break orders. Multilevel regression models were used for data analysis. Model comparisons were performed based on log-likelihood ratios, using the Akaike information criterion (AIC), and the Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC). The computational dual-control model was parameterized to assess separate weights for habitual versus goal-directed learning. The studies showed that playing a video game during a break enhanced visual learning but reduced auditory learning (β = 3.5, t = 3.65, p