fMRI and sleep correlates of the age-related impairment in motor memory consolidation

• Published in: Human brain mapping Vol. 35; no. 8; pp. 3625 - 3645
• Main Authors: Fogel, Stuart M., Albouy, Genevieve, Vien, Catherine, Popovicci, Romana, King, Bradley R., Hoge, Rick, Jbabdi, Saad, Benali, Habib, Karni, Avi, Maquet, Pierre, Carrier, Julie, Doyon, Julien
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.08.2014; Wiley-Liss; John Wiley & Sons, Inc; John Wiley and Sons Inc
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; aging; Aging - physiology; Biological and medical sciences; Brain - physiology; Brain Mapping; cerebellum; EEG; Electroencephalography; Female; fMRI; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; hippocampus; Human; Humans; Investigative techniques, diagnostic techniques (general aspects); Learning - physiology; Learning. Memory; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Medical sciences; Memory; Memory - physiology; memory consolidation; Middle Aged; Motor Activity - physiology; motor sequence learning; Nervous system; Photoperiod; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; putamen; Radiodiagnosis. Nmr imagery. Nmr spectrometry; sleep; Sleep - physiology; spindles; Young Adult; Cerebellum; Nervous system diseases; Senescence; Radiodiagnosis; memory consolidation; motor sequence learning; Memory; EEG; Central nervous system; Electrophysiology; Electroencephalography; Motor learning; Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging; Putamen; Encephalon; fMRI; Acquisition process; Sleep; spindles; Sleep wake cycle; aging; Motricity; Hippocampus; sleep; hippocampus; putamen; cerebellum
• ISSN: 1065-9471; 1097-0193; 1097-0193
• DOI: 10.1002/hbm.22426

Behavioral studies indicate that older adults exhibit normal motor sequence learning (MSL), but paradoxically, show impaired consolidation of the new memory trace. However, the neural and physiological mechanisms underlying this impairment are entirely unknown. Here, we sought to identify, through functional magnetic resonance imaging during MSL and electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings during daytime sleep, the functional correlates and physiological characteristics of this age‐related motor memory deficit. As predicted, older subjects did not exhibit sleep‐dependent gains in performance (i.e., behavioral changes that reflect consolidation) and had reduced sleep spindles compared with young subjects. Brain imaging analyses also revealed that changes in activity across the retention interval in the putamen and related brain regions were associated with sleep spindles. This change in striatal activity was increased in young subjects, but reduced by comparison in older subjects. These findings suggest that the deficit in sleep‐dependent motor memory consolidation in elderly individuals is related to a reduction in sleep spindle oscillations and to an associated decrease of activity in the cortico‐striatal network. Hum Brain Mapp 35:3625–3645, 2014. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.