Abstract
Nocturnal sleep effects on memory consolidation following gross motor sequence learning were examined using a complex arm movement task. This task required participants to produce non-regular spatial patterns in the horizontal plane by successively fitting a small peg into different target-holes on an electronic pegboard. The respective reaching movements typically differed in amplitude and direction. Targets were visualized prior to each transport movement on a computer screen. With this task we tested 18 subjects (22.6 ± 1.9 years; 8 female) using a between-subjects design. Participants initially learned a 10-element arm movement sequence either in the morning or in the evening. Performance was retested under free recall requirements 15 min post training, as well as 12 and 24 h later. Thus, each group was provided with one sleep-filled and one wake retention interval. Dependent variables were error rate (number of Erroneous Sequences, ES) and average sequence execution time (correct sequences only). Performance improved during acquisition. Error rate remained stable across retention. Sequence execution time (inverse to execution speed) significantly decreased again during the sleep-filled retention intervals, but remained stable during the respective wake intervals. These results corroborate recent findings on sleep-related enhancement consolidation in ecological valid, complex gross motor tasks. At the same time, they suggest this effect to be truly memory-based and independent from repeated access to extrinsic sequence information during retests.
Highlights
There is ample evidence that sleep after initial training of motor skills can produce significant improvements in performance at later retesting without any further physical practice (e.g., Fischer et al, 2005; Walker, 2005; Doyon et al, 2009)
In general sleep-related offline learning seems to require some involvement of declarative memory processes
Enhancement of motor sequence memory supposedly pertains to an abstract spatial map of the sequence that represents the series of movements to perform during recall
Summary
There is ample evidence that sleep (but not wake) after initial training of motor skills can produce significant improvements in performance at later retesting without any further physical practice (e.g., Fischer et al, 2005; Walker, 2005; Doyon et al, 2009). This phenomenon usually is referred to as ‘‘sleep-related offline learning’’, and has been associated with an ‘‘active system consolidation’’ process (Born and Wilhelm, 2012). Sleep-related EC should be most pronounced in sequentially structured motor tasks
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