Effects of Model Performances on Music Skill Acquisition and Overnight Memory Consolidation

This study was designed to investigate the extent to which the presentation of an auditory model prior to learning a novel melody affects performance during active practice and the overnight consolidation of procedural memory. During evening training sessions, 32 nonpianist musicians practiced a 13-note keyboard melody with their left (nondominant) hand in twelve 30-s practice intervals separated by 30-s rest intervals. Participants were instructed to play the sequence “as quickly, accurately, and evenly as possible.” Approximately half the participants, prior to the first practice interval, listened to 10 repetitions of the target melody played at 552 tones per minute (half note = 138). All participants were tested on the target melody the following morning, approximately 12 hr after training, in three 30-s blocks separated by 30-s rest intervals. Performance was measured in terms of the mean number of correct key presses per 30-s block (CKP/B). Consistent with previous research, participants made considerable improvements in CKP/B during the evening training sessions and between the end of training and the morning test sessions. Learners who listened to the model made significantly larger gains in performance during training and between the end of training and test than did those who did not hear the model.

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Acute Exercise and Motor Memory Consolidation: The Role of Exercise Timing

Neural Plasticity ◽

10.1155/2016/6205452 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 2016 ◽

pp. 1-11 ◽

Cited By ~ 36

Author(s):

Richard Thomas ◽

Mikkel Malling Beck ◽

Rune Rasmussen Lind ◽

Line Korsgaard Johnsen ◽

Svend Sparre Geertsen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Skill Acquisition ◽

Memory Consolidation ◽

High Intensity ◽

Acute Exercise ◽

Exercise Bout ◽

Procedural Memory ◽

Motor Memory ◽

Temporal Proximity ◽

Exercise Timing ◽

Motor Practice

High intensity aerobic exercise amplifies offline gains in procedural memory acquired during motor practice. This effect seems to be evident when exercise is placed immediately after acquisition, during the first stages of memory consolidation, but the importance of temporal proximity of the exercise bout used to stimulate improvements in procedural memory is unknown. The effects of three different temporal placements of high intensity exercise were investigated following visuomotor skill acquisition on the retention of motor memory in 48 young (24.0 ± 2.5 yrs), healthy male subjects randomly assigned to one of four groups either performing a high intensity (90% Maximal Power Output) exercise bout at 20 min (EX90), 1 h (EX90+1), 2 h (EX90+2) after acquisition or rested (CON). Retention tests were performed at 1 d (R1) and 7 d (R7). At R1 changes in performance scores after acquisition were greater for EX90 than CON (p<0.001) and EX90+2 (p=0.001). At R7 changes in performance scores for EX90, EX90+1, and EX90+2 were higher than CON (p<0.001,p=0.008, andp=0.008, resp.). Changes for EX90 at R7 were greater than EX90+2 (p=0.049). Exercise-induced improvements in procedural memory diminish as the temporal proximity of exercise from acquisition is increased. Timing of exercise following motor practice is important for motor memory consolidation.

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Done That: Short-term Repetition Related Modulations of Motor Cortex Activity as a Stable Signature for Overnight Motor Memory Consolidation

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/jocn_a_00675 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 26 (12) ◽

pp. 2716-2734 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Ella Gabitov ◽

David Manor ◽

Avi Karni

Keyword(s):

Motor Cortex ◽

Skill Acquisition ◽

Memory Consolidation ◽

Brain Activity ◽

Procedural Memory ◽

Motor Memory ◽

Task Repetition ◽

Short Term ◽

Repetition Effects ◽

Repetition Suppression

An almost universally accepted tacit expectation is that learning and memory consolidation processes must be reflected in the average brain activity in brain areas relevant to task performance. Motor cortex (M1) plasticity has been implicated in motor skill acquisition and its consolidation. Nevertheless, no consistent pattern of changes in the average signal, related to motor learning or motor memory consolidation following a single session of training, has emerged from imaging studies. Here we show that the pattern and magnitude of short-term brain activity modulations in response to task repetition, in M1, may provide a robust signature for effective motor memory consolidation processes. We studied participants during the paced performance of a finger-to-thumb opposition sequence (FOS), intensively trained a day earlier, and a similarly constructed untrained FOS. In addition to within-session “on-line” gains, most participants expressed delayed, consolidation-phase gains in the performance of the trained FOS. The execution of the trained FOS induced repetition enhancements in the contralateral M1 and bilaterally in the medial-temporal lobes, offsetting novelty-related repetition suppression effects. Moreover, the M1 modulations were positively correlated with the magnitude of each participant's overnight delayed gains but not with absolute performance levels. Our results suggest that short-term enhancements of brain signals upon task repetition reflect the effectiveness of overnight motor memory consolidation. We propose that procedural memory consolidation processes may affect the excitation–inhibition balance within cortical representations of the trained movements; this new balance is better reflected in repetition effects than in the average level of evoked neural activity.

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Alterations of procedural memory consolidation in children with developmental dyslexia.

Neuropsychology ◽

10.1037/neu0000708 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Martina Hedenius ◽

Jarrad A. G. Lum ◽

Sven Bölte

Keyword(s):

Developmental Dyslexia ◽

Memory Consolidation ◽

Procedural Memory

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THE USE OF E-BOOK TO IMPROVE READING COMPREHENSION AMONG YEAR 4 PUPILS

Journal of English Education ◽

10.31327/jee.v3i1.477 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 3 (1) ◽

pp. 23-32

Author(s):

Yee Bee Choo ◽

Nurul Syazana Zainuddin

Keyword(s):

Reading Comprehension ◽

Primary Schools ◽

Reading Skills ◽

Reflective Journal ◽

Research Participants ◽

Teaching Of Reading ◽

Post Test ◽

The Mean ◽

Level Of Understanding ◽

Level Of Motivation

This is an Action Research of using the Story Jumper as an E-book to improve the reading comprehension among Year 4 pupils in one of the primary schools in Malaysia. The participants involved were twenty pupils consisting of seven males and thirteen females. Three data collection methods employed were pre-test and post-test, pupils’ work and teacher’s reflective journal. The findings showed that the use of E-book had increased the level of understanding in reading comprehension among the research participants. The mean for the pre-test and post-test had increased from 45.83 to 93.33. The pupils’ work indicated positive improvements in terms of their level of understanding and responses in reading. It was also found from the reflective journal that the research participants had participated actively in the learning process and their level of motivation was also increased. The implication is to use E-book in the teaching of reading skills among the primary school learners.

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