Sleep is required for improving reaction times after training on a procedural visuo-motor task.
Sleep has been found to enhance consolidation of many different forms of memory. However in most procedural tasks, a sleep-independent, fast learning component interacts with slow, sleep-dependent improvements. Here, we show that in humans a visuo-motor saccade learning task shows no improvements during training, but only during a delayed recall testing after a period of sleep. Subjects were trained in a prosaccade task (saccade to a visual target). Performance was tested in the prosaccade and the antisaccade task (saccade to opposite direction of the target) before training, after a night of sleep or sleep deprivation, after a night of recovery sleep, and finally in a follow-up test 4 weeks later. We found no immediate improvement in saccadic reaction time (SRT) during training, but a delayed reduction in SRT, indicating a slow-learning process. This reduction occurred only after a period of sleep, i.e. after the first night in the sleep group and after recovery sleep in the sleep deprivation group. This improvement was stable during the 4-week follow-up. Saccadic training can thus induce covert changes in the saccade generation pathway. During the following sleep period, these changes in turn bring about overt performance improvements, presuming a learning effect based on synaptic tagging.
Gais
Steffen
S
Department of Neuroendocrinology, University of Lübeck, Ratzeburger Allee 160, 23538 Lübeck, Germany. gais@kfg.mu-luebeck.de
Köster
Sabine
S
Sprenger
Andreas
A
Bethke
Judith
J
Heide
Wolfgang
W
Kimmig
Hubert
H
D000328:Adult; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004576:Electromyography; D004585:Electrooculography; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time; D012438:Saccades / Q000502:physiology*; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology*; D014851:Wakefulness / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult