Abstract
The acquisition of novel motor skills is a fundamental process of lifelong learning and crucial for everyday behavior. Performance gains acquired by training undergo a transition from an initially labile state to a state that is progressively robust towards interference, a phenomenon referred to as motor consolidation. Previous work has demonstrated that the primary motor cortex (M1) is a neural key region for motor consolidation. However, it remains unknown whether physiological processes underlying posttraining motor consolidation in M1 are active already during an ongoing training phase or only after completion of the training. We examined whether 10-Hz interleaved repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (i-rTMS) of M1 during rest periods between active motor training in an explicit motor learning task affects posttraining offline consolidation. Relative to i-rTMS to the vertex (control region), i-rTMS to the M1hand area of the nondominant hand facilitated posttraining consolidation assessed 6 h after training without affecting training performance. This facilitatory effect generalized to delayed performance of the mirror-symmetric sequence with the untrained (dominant) hand. These findings indicate that posttraining consolidation can be facilitated independently from training-induced performance increments and suggest that consolidation is initiated already during offline processing in short rest periods between active training phases.
Highlights
The acquisition of novel motor skills is fundamental for successful everyday behavior across the life-span
We examined whether 10-Hz interleaved repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (i-rTMS) of M1 during rest periods between active motor training in an explicit motor learning task affects posttraining off line consolidation
A repeated measures analysis of variance (rmANOVA) conducted on the performance index (PI) values of the 30 blocks of training during both sessions (i-rTMS directed to the M1hand area and i-rTMS directed to the vertex) revealed a significant main effect of block (F29,638 = 11.249, P < 0.001), with no significant effect of i-rTMS site (F1,22 = 0.002, P = 0.968), nor a significant block × i-rTMS site interaction (F29,638 = 0.704, P = 0.876)
Summary
The acquisition of novel motor skills is fundamental for successful everyday behavior across the life-span. A large number of studies explored the potential of noninvasive brain stimulation (NIBS) techniques to modulate posttraining offline consolidation of motor learning. Overall, these previous studies demonstrated a fundamental role of the primary motor cortex (M1) for offline processing of training-induced performance increments after termination of active training (see Dayan and Cohen 2011 for a review). Continuous application of NIBS during a motor training session (or before, in case of persisting aftereffects) likely interacts with both online processing in M1 and short-term offline processing between active training blocks. A better understanding of these processes would be of great interest to deepen the current knowledge on the role of M1 in motor consolidation and increase the efficiency of NIBS applications
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