Early boost and slow consolidation in motor skill learning.
Motorskill learning is a dynamic process that continues covertly after training has ended and eventually leads to delayed increments in performance. Current theories suggest that this off-line improvement takes time and appears only after several hours. Here we show an early transient and short-lived boost in performance, emerging as early as 5-30 min after training but no longer observed 4 h later. This early boost is predictive of the performance achieved 48 h later, suggesting its functional relevance for memory processes.
Hotermans
Christophe
C
Cyclotron Research Centre, University of Liège, B-4000 Liège, Belgium.
Peigneux
Philippe
P
Maertens de Noordhout
Alain
A
Moonen
Gustave
G
Maquet
Pierre
P
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D009048:Motor Skills / Q000502:physiology*; D011214:Practice, Psychological; D011931:Reactive Inhibition; D012016:Reference Values; D013997:Time Factors