Active lead-in variability affects motor memory formation and slows motor learning

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 7; no. 1; pp. 7806 - 12
• Main Authors: Howard, Ian S., Ford, Christopher, Cangelosi, Angelo, Franklin, David W.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 10.08.2017; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 631/378/1595; 631/378/2632; Adaptation; Adaptation, Physiological; Adolescent; Adult; Female; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Information processing; Learning - physiology; Male; Memory; Motor Activity - physiology; Motor skill learning; multidisciplinary; Photic Stimulation; Psychomotor Performance; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Variability; Young Adult
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-05697-z

Rapid learning can be critical to ensure elite performance in a changing world or to recover basic movement after neural injuries. Recently it was shown that the variability of follow-through movements affects the rate of motor memory formation. Here we investigate if lead-in movement has a similar effect on learning rate. We hypothesized that both modality and variability of lead-in movement would play critical roles, with simulations suggesting that only changes in active lead-in variability would exhibit slower learning. We tested this experimentally using a two-movement paradigm, with either visual or active initial lead-in movements preceeding a second movement performed in a force field. As predicted, increasing active lead-in variability reduced the rate of motor adaptation, whereas changes in visual lead-in variability had little effect. This demonstrates that distinct neural tuning activity is induced by different lead-in modalities, subsequently influencing the access to, and switching between, distinct motor memories.