Abstract
The purpose of this study was to determine whether exposure to specific auditory sequences leads to the induction of new motor memories and to investigate the role of the dorsal premotor cortex (dPMC) in this crossmodal learning process. Fifty-two young healthy non-musicians were familiarized with the sound to key-press mapping on a computer keyboard and tested on their baseline motor performance. Each participant received subsequently either continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS) or sham stimulation over the dPMC and was then asked to remember a 12-note melody without moving. For half of the participants, the contour of the melody memorized was congruent to a subsequently performed, but never practiced, finger movement sequence (Congruent group). For the other half, the melody memorized was incongruent to the subsequent finger movement sequence (Incongruent group). Hearing a congruent melody led to significantly faster performance of a motor sequence immediately thereafter compared to hearing an incongruent melody. In addition, cTBS speeded up motor performance in both groups, possibly by relieving motor consolidation from interference by the declarative melody memorization task. Our findings substantiate recent evidence that exposure to a movement-related tone sequence can induce specific, crossmodal encoding of a movement sequence representation. They further suggest that cTBS over the dPMC may enhance early offline procedural motor skill consolidation in cognitive states where motor consolidation would normally be disturbed by concurrent declarative memory processes. These findings may contribute to a better understanding of auditory-motor system interactions and have implications for the development of new motor rehabilitation approaches using sound and non-invasive brain stimulation as neuromodulatory tools.
Highlights
There is emerging evidence that hearing melodic sound patterns can facilitate motor learning and memory (e.g., Lahav et al, 2005)
Based on a study showing that action observation increased the probability of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)-evoked involuntary thumb movements to fall in the observed direction, Stefan et al (2005) proposed that observation alone may induce lasting specific motor memory traces similar to physical training, and concluded that the visual mirror neuron system may play a role in memory formation and human motor learning
Results showed a significant main effect of sequence, such that all groups showed increases in RT when switching from sequence A (Seq A) to sequence B (Seq B) [F(1, 47) = 75.9, p < 0.0001, η2G = 0.37]
Summary
There is emerging evidence that hearing melodic sound patterns can facilitate motor learning and memory (e.g., Lahav et al, 2005). There is evidence for the role of the dorsal premotor cortex (dPMC) in auditory-motor integration (e.g., Chen et al, 2012). We investigated whether continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS) over the dPMC modulates auditory-motor crossmodal facilitation of motor learning. Observing an actor learning to move a robotic arm in a force field facilitated subsequent execution of the same task (Mattar and Gribble, 2005). Based on a study showing that action observation increased the probability of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)-evoked involuntary thumb movements to fall in the observed direction, Stefan et al (2005) proposed that observation alone (without physical training) may induce lasting specific motor memory traces similar to physical training, and concluded that the visual mirror neuron system may play a role in memory formation and human motor learning
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