Increasing motor skill acquisition by driving theta-gamma coupling

AbstractSkill learning is a fundamental adaptive process, but the mechanisms remain poorly understood. Hippocampal learning is closely associated with gamma activity, which is amplitude-modulated by the phase of underlying theta activity. Whether such nested activity patterns also underpin skill acquisition in non-hippocampal tasks is unknown. Here we addressed this question by using transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) over sensorimotor cortex to modulate theta-gamma activity during motor skill acquisition, as an exemplar of a non-hippocampal-dependent task. We demonstrated, and then replicated, a significant improvement in skill acquisition with theta-gamma tACS, which outlasted the stimulation by an hour. Our results suggest that theta-gamma activity may be a common mechanism for learning across the brain and provides a putative novel intervention for optimising functional improvements in response to training or therapy.

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Increasing human motor skill acquisition by driving theta-gamma coupling

eLife ◽

10.7554/elife.67355 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 ◽

Author(s):

Haya Akkad ◽

Joshua Dupont-Hadwen ◽

Edward Kane ◽

Carys Evans ◽

Liam Barrett ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Skill Acquisition ◽

Motor Skill ◽

Activity Patterns ◽

Skill Learning ◽

Gamma Activity ◽

Common Mechanism ◽

Motor Skill Acquisition ◽

Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation ◽

Human Motor ◽

The Brain

Skill learning is a fundamental adaptive process, but the mechanisms remain poorly understood. Some learning paradigms, particularly in the memory domain, are closely associated with gamma activity that is amplitude-modulated by the phase of underlying theta activity, but whether such nested activity patterns also underpin skill learning is unknown. Here we addressed this question by using transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) over sensorimotor cortex to modulate theta-gamma activity during motor skill acquisition, as an exemplar of a non-hippocampal-dependent task. We demonstrated, and then replicated, a significant improvement in skill acquisition with theta-gamma tACS, which outlasted the stimulation by an hour. Our results suggest that theta-gamma activity may be a common mechanism for learning across the brain and provides a putative novel intervention for optimising functional improvements in response to training or therapy.

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Skill learning strengthens cortical representations of motor sequences

eLife ◽

10.7554/elife.00801 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 2 ◽

Cited By ~ 92

Author(s):

Tobias Wiestler ◽

Jörn Diedrichsen

Keyword(s):

Skill Acquisition ◽

Motor Skill ◽

Brain Activity ◽

Activity Patterns ◽

Skill Learning ◽

Multivariate Pattern Analysis ◽

Motor Skill Acquisition ◽

Average Activity ◽

Multivariate Pattern ◽

Cortical Representations

Motor-skill learning can be accompanied by both increases and decreases in brain activity. Increases may indicate neural recruitment, while decreases may imply that a region became unimportant or developed a more efficient representation of the skill. These overlapping mechanisms make interpreting learning-related changes of spatially averaged activity difficult. Here we show that motor-skill acquisition is associated with the emergence of highly distinguishable activity patterns for trained movement sequences, in the absence of average activity increases. During functional magnetic resonance imaging, participants produced either four trained or four untrained finger sequences. Using multivariate pattern analysis, both untrained and trained sequences could be discriminated in primary and secondary motor areas. However, trained sequences were classified more reliably, especially in the supplementary motor area. Our results indicate skill learning leads to the development of specialized neuronal circuits, which allow the execution of fast and accurate sequential movements without average increases in brain activity.

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The Effect of Aimed Movements in Sequenced Motor Skill Learning Motor Skill Acquisition Using Aiming and the SRTT

PsycEXTRA Dataset ◽

10.1037/e626972012-119 ◽

2008 ◽

Author(s):

Michelle V. Thompson ◽

Janet L. Utschig ◽

Mikaela K. Vaughan ◽

Marc V. Richard ◽

Benjamin A. Clegg

Keyword(s):

Skill Acquisition ◽

Motor Skill ◽

Skill Learning ◽

Motor Skill Learning ◽

Motor Skill Acquisition

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New roles for dopamine in motor skill acquisition: Lessons from primates, rodents, and songbirds

Journal of Neurophysiology ◽

10.1152/jn.00648.2020 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Alynda N Wood

Keyword(s):

Basal Ganglia ◽

Motor Learning ◽

Associative Learning ◽

Skill Acquisition ◽

Motor Skill ◽

Human Life ◽

Skill Learning ◽

Motor Skill Acquisition ◽

Model Free ◽

Species Comparisons

Motor learning is a core aspect of human life, and appears to be ubiquitous throughout the animal kingdom. Dopamine, a neuromodulator with a multifaceted role in synaptic plasticity, may be a key signaling molecule for motor skill learning. Though typically studied in the context of reward-based associative learning, dopamine appears to be necessary for some types of motor learning. Mesencephalic dopamine structures are highly conserved among vertebrates, as are some of their primary targets within the basal ganglia, a subcortical circuit important for motor learning and motor control. With a focus on the benefits of cross-species comparisons, this review examines how "model-free" and "model-based" computational frameworks for understanding dopamine's role in associative learning may be applied to motor learning. The hypotheses that dopamine could drive motor learning either by functioning as a reward prediction error, through passive facilitating of normal basal ganglia activity, or through other mechanisms are examined in light of new studies using humans, rodents, and songbirds. Additionally, new paradigms that could enhance our understanding of dopamine's role in motor learning by bridging the gap between the theoretical literature on motor learning in humans and other species are discussed.

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Effects of tDCS on motor learning and memory formation: a consensus and critical position paper

10.1101/064204 ◽

2016 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Ethan R Buch ◽

Emiliano Santarnecchi ◽

Andrea Antal ◽

Jan Born ◽

Pablo A Celnik ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Motor Skills ◽

Skill Acquisition ◽

Motor Skill ◽

Primary Motor Cortex ◽

Open Data ◽

Individual Variability ◽

Skill Learning ◽

Critical Position ◽

Data Repositories ◽

Motor Skill Acquisition

AbstractMotor skills are required for activities of daily living. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) applied in association with motor skill learning has been investigated as a tool for enhancing training effects in health and disease. Here, we review the published literature investigating whether tDCS can facilitate the acquisition and retention of motor skills and adaptation. A majority of reports focused on the application of tDCS with the anode placed over the primary motor cortex (M1) during motor skill acquisition, while some evaluated tDCS applied over the cerebellum during adaptation of existing motor skills. Work in multiple laboratories is under way to develop a mechanistic understanding of tDCS effects on different forms of learning and to optimize stimulation protocols. Efforts are required to improve reproducibility and standardization. Overall, reproducibility remains to be fully tested, effect sizes with present techniques are moderate (up to d= 0.5) (Hashemirad, Zoghi, Fitzgerald, & Jaberzadeh, 2016) and the basis of inter-individual variability in tDCS effects is incompletely understood. It is recommended that future studies explicitly state in the Methods the exploratory (hypothesis-generating) or hypothesis-driven (confirmatory) nature of the experimental designs. General research practices could be improved with prospective pre-registration of hypothesis-based investigations, more emphasis on the detailed description of methods (including all pertinent details to enable future modeling of induced current and experimental replication) and use of post-publication open data repositories. A checklist is proposed for reporting tDCS investigations in a way that can improve efforts to assess reproducibility.

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Neurobiology of Nondeclarative Memory: A Selected Review on Motor

Perspectives on Neurophysiology and Neurogenic Speech and Language Disorders ◽

10.1044/nnsld24.2.43 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 24 (2) ◽

pp. 43-49

Author(s):

Sara Cavaco

Keyword(s):

Skill Acquisition ◽

Motor Skill ◽

Current Knowledge ◽

Neural Substrates ◽

Skill Learning ◽

Motor Skill Learning ◽

Motor Sequence ◽

Motor Skill Acquisition ◽

Differential Contribution ◽

Experience Difficulty

There is extensive evidence and it is widely recognized that motor skill learning is spared in patients with dense amnesia. However, the neural substrates of motor skill learning are a continuing topic of research and a current matter of debate. This review focuses on the differential contribution of the striatum and the cerebellum to learning skills that require either motor sequence or motor adaptation. A brief overview of the current knowledge helps understand why certain patient populations, such as patients with Parkinson's disease and patients with cerebellar ataxia, experience difficulty with motor skill acquisition.

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Components of complex movement that can be best studied using the sequence learning paradigm

Journal of Neurophysiology ◽

10.1152/jn.00769.2019 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 124 (3) ◽

pp. 645-647

Author(s):

Reshma Babu

Keyword(s):

Motor Skills ◽

Skill Acquisition ◽

Sequence Learning ◽

Motor Skill ◽

Learning Paradigm ◽

Skilled Movement ◽

Motor Skill Acquisition ◽

The Brain ◽

Complex Movement

The sequence learning paradigm has been used extensively to study motor skill acquisition. Skilled movement involves combining smaller elements of the movement in a particular order with certain timing; in sequence learning these are typically button presses, but other motor skills may include more complex elements. This paper reviews recent evidence suggesting the sequence learning paradigm can be used to understand how the brain abstractly represents the ordering of discrete actions in a complex movement.

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