Investigating the neural oscillations supporting rapid consolidation of implicit motor sequences
Poster No:
861
Submission Type:
Abstract Submission
Authors:
Joshua Hendrikse1, Nermin Aljehany1, Juliet Hosler1, Emily Brooks1, James Coxon1
Institutions:
1Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria
First Author:
Co-Author(s):
Introduction:
New motor skills are developed 'online' during active practice and consolidated 'offline' at rest. Recent work has established that offline consolidation can occur rapidly across a scale of seconds during brief rest periods (i.e., micro-consolidation) (Bönstrup et al., 2019; Brooks et al., 2024). Beta oscillations across sensorimotor regions are known to support motor skill consolidation in the hours-days following practice (Dayan & Cohen, 2011; Dyck & Klaes, 2024), but whether these same mechanisms are implicated in micro-consolidation remains unclear.
Methods:
Seventy-two participants (18-35 years, 40 female) completed 24 blocks of a serial reaction time task with their non-dominant left hand, with concurrent EEG recording (actiCap Brain Products, 64 channel 10-20 montage). Each block included a 10s practice period in which participants responded to visual cues which followed an implicit 12-item repeating sequence, followed by a 10s rest period.
Results:
Significant improvement in keypresses per second was observed across the training period (p < .001, Cohen's d = 2.35, Figure 1). This learning was primarily attributable to micro-offline gains occurring during rest periods (p = .029, Cohen's d = .064). Event-related spectral perturbation (ERSP) analysis revealed increased beta power across sensorimotor EEG channels during rest, relative to active practice periods (p < .001, Cohen's d = 1.04, Figure 2).
Conclusions:
Our findings implicate sensorimotor beta activity in motor sequence learning. Future research is required to establish the causal role of beta power modulation to consolidation at the micro timescale.
Learning and Memory:
Implicit Memory
Skill Learning 1
Modeling and Analysis Methods:
EEG/MEG Modeling and Analysis 2
Keywords:
Electroencephaolography (EEG)
Motor
Other - motor learning
1|2Indicates the priority used for review
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Was this research conducted in the United States?
Were any human subjects research approved by the relevant Institutional Review Board or ethics panel? NOTE: Any human subjects studies without IRB approval will be automatically rejected.
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Provide references using APA citation style.
Brooks, E., Wallis, S., Hendrikse, J., & Coxon, J. (2024). Micro-consolidation occurs when learning an implicit motor sequence, but is not influenced by HIIT exercise. Npj Science of Learning, 9(1), 23. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-024-00238-6
Dayan, E., & Cohen, L. G. (2011). Neuroplasticity subserving motor skill learning. Neuron, 72(3), 443–454. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2011.10.008
Dyck, S., & Klaes, C. (2024). Training-related changes in neural beta oscillations associated with implicit and explicit motor sequence learning. Scientific Reports, 14(1), 6781. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-57285-7