title: Sleep and the time course of motor skill learning.
abstract: Growing evidence suggests that sleep plays an important role in the process of procedural learning. Most recently, sleep has been implicated in the continued development of motor-skill learning following initial acquisition. However, the temporal evolution of motor learning before and after sleep, the effects of different training regimens, and the long-term development of motor learning across multiple nights of sleep remain unknown. Here, we report data for subjects trained and retested on a sequential finger-tapping task across multiple days. The findings demonstrate firstly that following initial training, small practice-dependent improvements are possible before, but not following the large practice-independent gains that develop across a night of sleep. Secondly, doubling the quantity of initial training does not alter the amount of subsequent sleep-dependent learning that develops overnight. Thirdly, the amount of sleep-dependent learning does not correlate with the amount of practice-dependent learning achieved during training, suggesting the existence of two discrete motor-learning processes. Finally, whereas the majority of sleep-dependent motor-skill learning develops during the first night of sleep following training, additional nights of sleep still offer continued improvements.
authors.affiliation: Massachusetts Mental Health Center, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. mwalker@hms.harvard.edu
authors.forename: Matthew P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Walker
authors.forename: Tiffany
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Brakefield
authors.forename: Joshua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Seidman
authors.forename: Alexandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Morgan
authors.forename: J Allan
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Hobson
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Stickgold
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005385:Fingers; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D009048:Motor Skills / Q000502:physiology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology*