Figure - available from: Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience
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Mean reaction times from the Serial Reaction Time Task reported by FOC and SOC groups and Block. (A) Shows data from the Wake session. (B) Shows data from the Nap session. Blocks 1–6 correspond to the Learning phase of the task. Blocks 7–9 correspond to the Retention phase of the task. Blocks marked with * indicate the random blocks. Error bars show standard error.
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This study examined the effects of a daytime nap on the retention of implicitly learnt “first-order conditional” (FOC) and “second-order conditional” (SOC) motor sequences. The implicit learning and retention of a motor sequence has been linked to the neural processes undertaken by the basal ganglia and primary motor cortex (i.e., procedural memory...
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Citations
... However, our findings did not reveal significant effects of the intermediate nap on motor performance. These results are consistent with a growing body of literature suggesting that daytime naps do not consistently improve motor memory consolidation[65]-[67], unlike their effect on declarative memory. One possible explanation for the lack of effect is that not all participants in the Nap group reached REM sleep, and those who did only had brief episodes of REM (a few minutes). ...
Learning and consolidation of motor skills dynamically evolve both online during practice and offline after training. We investigated using magnetoencephalography the neural dynamics underpinning motor learning and its consolidation in relation to sleep during resting-state periods shortly after the end of learning (short-term boost window, within 30 min) and at more delayed time scales (silent 4h and next day 24h windows) with an intermediate nap or wakefulness after the boost window. Resting-state neural dynamics in brain networks were investigated at fast (sub-second) and slower (supra-second) timescales using Hidden Markov modelling (HMM) and resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC), respectively, as well as their relationship with the evolution of motor performance. HMM results show that fast dynamic activities in a Temporal/Sensorimotor state network predict individual motor performance achievements, suggesting a trait-like association between rapidly recurrent neural patterns and motor behaviour. Short, post-training re-exposure to the task modulated fast and slow network characteristics during the boost but not in the silent window. These short practice-related induction effects were observed again on the next day, to a reduced extent as compared to the boost window. Daytime naps did not significantly modulate memory consolidation both at behavioural and neural levels. These results emphasise the critical role of the transient boost window in motor learning and subsequent memory consolidation processes and provide further insights into the relationship between the multiscale neural dynamics of brain networks, motor learning, and consolidation.
Attempts have been made to modulate motor sequence learning (MSL) through repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, targeting different sites within the sensorimotor network. However, the target with the optimum modulatory effect on neural plasticity associated with MSL remains unclarified. This study was therefore designed to compare the role of the left primary motor cortex and the left supplementary motor area proper (SMAp) in modulating MSL across different complexity levels and for both hands, as well as the associated neuroplasticity by applying intermittent theta burst stimulation together with the electroencephalogram and concurrent transcranial magnetic stimulation. Our data demonstrated the role of SMAp stimulation in modulating neural communication to support MSL, which is achieved by facilitating regional activation and orchestrating neural coupling across distributed brain regions, particularly in interhemispheric connections. These findings may have important clinical implications, particularly for motor rehabilitation in populations such as post-stroke patients.
