scholarly journals A Daytime Nap Does Not Enhance the Retention of a First-Order or Second-Order Motor Sequence

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael P. Barham ◽  
Jarrad A. G. Lum ◽  
Russell Conduit ◽  
Lara Fernadez ◽  
Peter G. Enticott ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Implicit Learning ◽  
Primary Motor Cortex ◽  
Declarative Memory ◽  
Reaction Time Task ◽  
Procedural Memory ◽  
Memory System ◽  
Second Order ◽  
Motor Sequence ◽  
First Order ◽  
Daytime Nap

This study examined the effects of a daytime nap on the retention of implicitly learnt “first-order conditional” (FOC) and “second-order conditional” (SOC) motor sequences. The implicit learning and retention of a motor sequence has been linked to the neural processes undertaken by the basal ganglia and primary motor cortex (i.e., procedural memory system). There is evidence, however, suggesting that SOC learning may further rely on the hippocampus-supported declarative memory system. Sleep appears to benefit the retention of information processed by the declarative memory system, but not the procedural memory system. Thus, it was hypothesized that sleep would benefit the retention of a SOC motor sequence but not a FOC sequence. The implicit learning and retention of these sequences was examined using the Serial Reaction Time Task. In this study, healthy adults implicitly learnt either a FOC (n = 20) or a SOC sequence (n = 20). Retention of both sequences was assessed following a daytime nap and period of wakefulness. Sleep was not found to improve the retention of the SOC sequence. There were no significant differences in the retention of a FOC or a SOC sequence following a nap or period of wakefulness. The study questions whether the declarative memory system is involved in the retention of implicitly learnt SOC sequences.

THE RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY OF PROCEDURAL MEMORY ASSESSMENTS USED IN SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION RESEARCH

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-28
Author(s):  
Joshua Buffington ◽  
Alexander P. Demos ◽  
Kara Morgan-Short
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Discriminant Validity ◽  
Declarative Memory ◽  
Reliability And Validity ◽  
Reaction Time Task ◽  
Serial Reaction Time Task ◽  
Procedural Memory ◽  
Learning Ability ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Serial Reaction

Abstract Evidence for the role of procedural memory in second language (L2) acquisition has emerged in our field. However, little is known about the reliability and validity of the procedural memory measures used in this research. The present study (N = 119) examined the reliability and the convergent and discriminant validity of three assessments that have previously been used to examine procedural memory learning ability in L2 acquisition, the dual-task Weather Prediction Task (DT-WPT), the Alternating Serial Reaction Time Task (ASRT), and the Tower of London (TOL). Measures of declarative memory learning ability were also collected. For reliability, the DT-WPT and TOL tasks met acceptable standards. For validity, an exploratory factor analysis did not provide evidence for convergent validity, but the ASRT and the TOL showed reasonable discriminant validity with declarative memory measures. We argue that the ASRT may provide the purest engagement of procedural memory learning ability, although more reliable dependent measures for this task should be considered. The Serial Reaction Time task also appears promising, although we recommend further consideration of this task as the present analyses were post hoc and based on a smaller sample. We discuss these results regarding the assessment of procedural memory learning ability as well as implications for implicit language aptitude.

scholarly journals Investigating the Effects of Seizures on Procedural Memory Performance in Patients with Epilepsy

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 261
Author(s):  
Frank J. van Schalkwijk ◽  
Walter R. Gruber ◽  
Laurie A. Miller ◽  
Eugen Trinka ◽  
Yvonne Höller
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Lobe ◽  
Declarative Memory ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Total Sample ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Procedural Memory ◽  
Memory Retention ◽  
Motor Sequence ◽  
Performance Improvements ◽  
Patients With Epilepsy

Memory complaints are frequently reported by patients with epilepsy and are associated with seizure occurrence. Yet, the direct effects of seizures on memory retention are difficult to assess given their unpredictability. Furthermore, previous investigations have predominantly assessed declarative memory. This study evaluated within-subject effects of seizure occurrence on retention and consolidation of a procedural motor sequence learning task in patients with epilepsy undergoing continuous monitoring for five consecutive days. Of the total sample of patients considered for analyses (N = 53, Mage = 32.92 ± 13.80 y, range = 18–66 y; 43% male), 15 patients experienced seizures and were used for within-patient analyses. Within-patient contrasts showed general improvements over seizure-free (day + night) and seizure-affected retention periods. Yet, exploratory within-subject contrasts for patients diagnosed with temporal lobe epilepsy (n = 10) showed that only seizure-free retention periods resulted in significant improvements, as no performance changes were observed following seizure-affected retention. These results indicate general performance improvements and offline consolidation of procedural memory during the day and night. Furthermore, these results suggest the relevance of healthy temporal lobe functioning for successful consolidation of procedural information, as well as the importance of seizure control for effective retention and consolidation of procedural memory.

Contribution of the Premotor Cortex to Consolidation of Motor Sequence Learning in Humans During Sleep

2010 ◽  
Vol 104 (5) ◽  
pp. 2603-2614 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael A. Nitsche ◽  
Michaela Jakoubkova ◽  
Nivethida Thirugnanasambandam ◽  
Leonie Schmalfuss ◽  
Sandra Hullemann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Task Performance ◽  
Rem Sleep ◽  
Sequence Learning ◽  
Memory Consolidation ◽  
Primary Motor Cortex ◽  
Premotor Cortex ◽  
Reaction Time Task ◽  
Motor Memory ◽  
Motor Sequence

Motor learning and memory consolidation require the contribution of different cortices. For motor sequence learning, the primary motor cortex is involved primarily in its acquisition. Premotor areas might be important for consolidation. In accordance, modulation of cortical excitability via transcranial DC stimulation (tDCS) during learning affects performance when applied to the primary motor cortex, but not premotor cortex. We aimed to explore whether premotor tDCS influences task performance during motor memory consolidation. The impact of excitability-enhancing, -diminishing, or placebo premotor tDCS during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep on recall in the serial reaction time task (SRTT) was explored in healthy humans. The motor task was learned in the evening. Recall was performed immediately after tDCS or the following morning. In two separate control experiments, excitability-enhancing premotor tDCS was performed 4 h after task learning during daytime or immediately before conduction of a simple reaction time task. Excitability-enhancing tDCS performed during REM sleep increased recall of the learned movement sequences, when tested immediately after stimulation. REM density was enhanced by excitability-increasing tDCS and reduced by inhibitory tDCS, but did not correlate with task performance. In the control experiments, tDCS did not improve performance. We conclude that the premotor cortex is involved in motor memory consolidation during REM sleep.

scholarly journals Processing Verb Meanings and the Declarative/Procedural Model: A Developmental Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolas Stefaniak ◽  
Véronique Baltazart ◽  
Christelle Declercq
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Development ◽  
Declarative Memory ◽  
Procedural Memory ◽  
Semantic Knowledge ◽  
Memory System ◽  
Developmental Study ◽  
Sequential Processing ◽  
Grammaticality Judgments ◽  
Typicality Effect ◽  
Verb Processing

According to the Declarative/Procedural Model, the lexicon depends on declarative memory while grammar relies on procedural memory. Furthermore, procedural memory underlies the sequential processing of language. Thus, this system is important for predicting the next item in a sentence. Verb processing represents a good candidate to test this assumption. Semantic representations of verbs include information about the protagonists in the situations they refer to. This semantic knowledge is acquired implicitly and used during verb processing, such that the processing of a verb preactivates its typical patients (e.g., the window for break). Thus, determining how the patient typicality effect appears during children’s cognitive development could provide evidence about the memory system that is dedicated to this effect. Two studies are presented in which French children aged 6–10 and adults made grammaticality judgments on 80 auditorily presented sentences. In Experiment 1, the verb was followed by a typical patient or by a less typical patient. In Experiment 2, grammatical sentences were constructed such that the verb was followed either by a typical patient or by a noun that could not be a patient of that verb. The typicality effect occurs in younger children and is interpreted in terms of developmental invariance. We suggest that this effect may depend on procedural memory, in line with studies that showed that meaning is necessary to allow procedural memory to learn the sequence of words in a sentence.

The reliability and validity of procedural memory assessments used in second language acquisition research

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua Buffington ◽  
Alexander Pantelis Demos ◽  
Kara Morgan-Short
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Discriminant Validity ◽  
Declarative Memory ◽  
Reliability And Validity ◽  
Reaction Time Task ◽  
Serial Reaction Time Task ◽  
Procedural Memory ◽  
Learning Ability ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Serial Reaction

Evidence for the role of procedural memory in second language (L2) acquisition has emerged in our field. However, little is known about the reliability and validity of the procedural memory measures used in this research. The present study (N = 99) examined the reliability and the convergent and discriminant validity of three assessments that have previously been used to examine procedural memory learning ability in L2 acquisition, the dual-task Weather Prediction Task (DT-WPT), the Alternating Serial Reaction Time Task (ASRT), and the Tower of London (TOL). Measures of declarative memory learning ability were also collected. For reliability, the DT-WPT and TOL tasks met acceptable standards. For validity, an exploratory factor analysis did not provide evidence for convergent validity, but the ASRT and the TOL showed reasonable discriminant validity with declarative memory measures. We argue that the ASRT may provide the purest engagement of procedural memory learning ability, although more reliable dependent measures for this task should be considered. The Serial Reaction Time task also appears promising, although we recommend further consideration of this task as the present analyses were post hoc and based on a smaller sample. We discuss these results in regard to the assessment of procedural memory learning ability as well as implications for implicit learning aptitude.

Inflectional morphology in a family with inherited specific language impairment

1999 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
MICHAEL T. ULLMAN ◽  
MYRNA GOPNIK
Keyword(s):  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Cognitive Skills ◽  
Declarative Memory ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Procedural Memory ◽  
Memory System ◽  
Past Tense ◽  
Inflectional Morphology ◽  
Normal Children ◽  
Word Forms

The production of regular and irregular past tense forms was investigated among the members of an English-speaking family with a hereditary disorder of language. Unlike the control subjects, the family members affected by the disorder failed to generate overregularizations (e.g., digged) or novel regular forms (plammed, crived), whereas they did produce novel irregularizations (crive–crove). They showed word frequency effects for regular past tense forms (looked) and had trouble producing regulars and irregulars (looked, dug). This pattern cannot be easily explained by deficits of articulation or of perceptual processing, by previous simulations of impairments to a single-mechanism system, or by the extended optional infinitive hypothesis. We argue that the pattern is consistent with a three-level explanation. First, we posit a grammatical deficit of rules or morphological paradigms. This may be caused by a dysfunction of a frontal/basal-ganglia “procedural memory” system previously implicated in the implicit learning and use of motor and cognitive skills. Second, in contexts requiring inflection in the normal adult grammar, the affected subjects appear to retrieve word forms as a function of their accessibility and conceptual appropriateness (“conceptual selection”). Their acquisition and use of these word forms may rely on a “declarative memory” system previously implicated in the explicit learning and use of facts and events. Third, a compensatory strategy may be at work. Some family members may have explicitly learned a strategy of adding suffix-like endings to forms retrieved by conceptual selection. The morphological errors of young normal children appear to be similar to those of the affected family members, who may have been left stranded with conceptual selection by a specific developmental arrest. The same underlying deficit may also explain the impaired subjects' difficulties with derivational morphology.

scholarly journals Functional Role of Cerebellar Gamma Frequency in Motor Sequences Learning: a tACS Study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Giustiniani ◽  
V. Tarantino ◽  
M. Bracco ◽  
R. E. Bonaventura ◽  
M. Oliveri
Keyword(s):  
Primary Motor Cortex ◽  
Reaction Time Task ◽  
Single Pulse ◽  
Gamma Oscillations ◽  
Corticospinal Excitability ◽  
Oscillatory Activity ◽  
Motor Sequence ◽  
Pseudorandom Sequences ◽  
Gamma Frequency

AbstractAlthough the role of the cerebellum in motor sequences learning is widely established, the specific function of its gamma oscillatory activity still remains unclear. In the present study, gamma (50 Hz)—or delta (1 Hz)—transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) was applied to the right cerebellar cortex while participants performed an implicit serial reaction time task (SRTT) with their right hand. The task required the execution of motor sequences simultaneously with the presentation of a series of visual stimuli. The same sequence was repeated across multiple task blocks (from blocks 2 to 5 and from blocks 7 to 8), whereas in other blocks, new/pseudorandom sequences were reproduced (blocks 1 and 6). Task performance was examined before and during tACS. To test possible after-effects of cerebellar tACS on the contralateral primary motor cortex (M1), corticospinal excitability was assessed by examining the amplitude of motor potentials (MEP) evoked by single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Compared with delta stimulation, gamma-tACS applied during the SRTT impaired participants’ performance in blocks where the same motor sequence was repeated but not in blocks where the new pseudorandom sequences were presented. Noteworthy, the later assessed corticospinal excitability was not affected. These results suggest that cerebellar gamma oscillations mediate the implicit acquisition of motor sequences but do not affect task execution itself. Overall, this study provides evidence of a specific role of cerebellar gamma oscillatory activity in implicit motor learning.

Adaptation and validation of the Transactive Memory System Scale in Sport (TMSS-S)

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 1015-1022
Author(s):  
Francisco M Leo ◽  
Inmaculada González-Ponce ◽  
David Sánchez-Oliva ◽  
Juan J Pulido ◽  
Tomás García-Calvo
Keyword(s):  
Concurrent Validity ◽  
Transactive Memory ◽  
Memory System ◽  
Second Order ◽  
Transactive Memory System ◽  
First Order ◽  
Structure Solution ◽  
Reliable Instrument ◽  
The Hierarchical Structure ◽  
Order Factor

This study aimed to adapt and validate the Transactive Memory System Scale in Sport with professional players. The participants were 375 male and 229 female professional players, aged between 15 and 38 years ( M = 24.34, SD = 4.03). The structure of the instrument was analyzed through confirmatory procedures and supporting the hypothesized theoretical model of one second-order factor and three first-order factors. Results showed that the hierarchical structure solution had a good fit of the data. Thus, the structure of the Transactive Memory System Scale in Sport is composed with one second-order factor and three first-order factors: specialization, credibility, and coordination. Furthermore, reliability and invariance across gender were also shown, and the scale had good concurrent validity. These results suggest that the Transactive Memory System Scale in Sport is a valid and reliable instrument to measure the transactive memory system in sport with male and female professional players.

scholarly journals 0113 Evaluating Closed-Loop Auditory Stimulation During Sleep as an Intervention to Improve Memory Consolidation Deficits in Schizophrenia

SLEEP ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 43 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. A45-A45
Author(s):  
B Baxter ◽  
K Kwok ◽  
C Talbot ◽  
L Zhu ◽  
D Mylonas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Deficits ◽  
Memory Consolidation ◽  
Closed Loop ◽  
Declarative Memory ◽  
Procedural Memory ◽  
Auditory Stimulation ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
Healthy Adults ◽  
Sleep Spindles ◽  
Motor Sequence

Abstract Introduction Converging evidence supports the hypothesis that reduced sleep spindles and spindle-slow oscillation (SO) coordination contribute to cognitive deficits in schizophrenia. Closed-loop auditory stimulation in healthy adults increases sleep spindles and improves declarative memory consolidation. Here we investigated whether closed-loop auditory stimulation also improves sleep-dependent procedural memory consolidation as a first step towards an intervention in schizophrenia. Methods Thirteen healthy adults participated in two nap sessions (stimulation or detection only) with polysomnography in a counterbalanced order. Participants were trained on the finger tapping Motor Sequence Task (MST), which measures sleep-dependent motor procedural memory consolidation, prior to napping and were tested after awakening. We detected the negative peak of SOs during non-REM sleep and, in the stimulation condition, delivered 50ms of pink noise during the SO up-state. Results Auditory stimulation increased SOs and spindles during the SO up-state in a frontocentral cluster of electrodes 800-1200ms after stimulation compared to detection only (p<0.05). Stimulation also showed promise for improving memory consolidation (33% increase in MST overnap improvement from detection-only) but this did not reach significance in this small sample and data collection is ongoing. Conclusion Auditory stimulation evoked coordinated spindle-SO events that mediate memory consolidation, but more subjects are needed to evaluate whether it also improves memory. If it does, we will test the effects of stimulation on sleep-dependent memory deficits in patients with schizophrenia. Closed-loop auditory stimulation shows promise as a safe, scalable intervention for cognitive deficits that can be implemented at home with commercially available devices. Support R01 MH67720 (DSM & RS), NIH-NHLBI 5T32HL007901-17 (BB), K24MH099421 (DSM), and Simons Foundation (DSM).

scholarly journals Menstrual Cycle Modulates Motor Learning and Memory Consolidation in Humans

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 696
Author(s):  
Koyuki Ikarashi ◽  
Daisuke Sato ◽  
Kaho Iguchi ◽  
Yasuhiro Baba ◽  
Koya Yamashiro
Keyword(s):  
Menstrual Cycle ◽  
Motor Learning ◽  
Memory Consolidation ◽  
Premenstrual Syndrome ◽  
Primary Motor Cortex ◽  
Declarative Memory ◽  
Procedural Memory ◽  
Menstrual Phase ◽  
Final Performance ◽  
Sensorimotor Skills

Numerous studies have noted that sex and/or menstrual phase influences cognitive performance (in particular, declarative memory), but the effects on motor learning (ML) and procedural memory/consolidation remain unclear. In order to test the hypothesis that ML differs across menstrual cycle phases, initial ML, overlearning, consolidation, and final performance were assessed in women in the follicular, preovulation and luteal phases. Primary motor cortex (M1) oscillations were assessed neuro-physiologically, and premenstrual syndrome and interoceptive awareness scores were assessed psychologically. We found not only poorer performance gain through initial ML but also lower final performance after overlearning a day and a week later in the luteal group than in the ovulation group. This behavioral difference could be explained by particular premenstrual syndrome symptoms and associated failure of normal M1 excitability in the luteal group. In contrast, the offline effects, i.e., early and late consolidation, did not differ across menstrual cycle phases. These results provide information regarding the best time in which to start learning new sensorimotor skills to achieve expected gains.

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