New Developments in the Study of Consolidation of Skill in Health and Disease

Abstract

Previous work demonstrated that most early procedural learning relies in a rapid form of consolidation with performance improvements developing during rest instead of during practice. These micro-offline gains are unaffected by shortening practice duration and stabilize over time, consistent with a rapid form of consolidation, developing over a faster time-scale than previously acknowledged. MEG activity during waking rest intervals in which consolidation occurs revealed that motor practice elicits wakeful compressed neural replay represented in sensorimotor - medial temporal memory regions. Importantly, this form of human wakeful neural replay Predicts rapid consolidation of skill, crucial for early procedural learning and four times larger than more extensively studied overnight consolidation.