Sleep improves the variability of motor performance.

Full Abstract

Sleep after learning often enhances task performance, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Using a well-characterized rotation learning paradigm implemented both behaviorally and in computer simulations, we compared two main hypotheses:
the first, that off-line replay during sleep leads to further potentiation of synaptic circuits involved in learning; the second, that sleep enhances performance by uniformly downscaling synaptic strength. A simple computer model implemented synaptic changes associated with rotation adaptation (30 degrees ), yielding a reduction in mean directional error. Simulating further synaptic potentiation led to a further reduction of mean directional error, but not of directional variability. By contrast, simulating sleep-dependent synaptic renormalization by scaling down all synaptic weights by 15% decreased both mean directional error and variability. Two groups of subjects were tested after either two rotation adaptation training sessions or after a single training session followed by sleep. After two training sessions, mean direction error decreased, but directional variability remained high. However, subjects who slept after a single training session showed a reduction in both directional error and variability, consistent with a downscaling mechanism during sleep.

Learn Faster Today Improve your study skills

Author information

Author/s: Hill, Sean (S); Tononi, Giulio (G); Ghilardi, M Felice (MF);

Affiliation: IBM TJ Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, NY, United States.

Grants: R01 NS054864 (Agency:United States NINDS) ; R01 NS055185 (Agency:United States NINDS)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Randomized Controlled Trial; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

Journal: Brain research bulletin (Brain Res Bull), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2008-Aug; vol 76 (issue 6) : pp 605-11

Dates: Created 2008/07/07; Completed 2008/08/19;

PMID: 18598851, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article (including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.

MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adult
Computer Simulation
Female
Humans
Learning - physiology
Male
Neuronal Plasticity - physiology

Psychomotor Performance - physiology
Regression Analysis
Rotation
Sleep - physiology
Synapses - physiology
Synaptic Transmission - physiology
Task Performance and Analysis

These are the highest related articles currently in the database:

See 100+ related articles.