Recent research has shown that both the speed and accuracy of novel motor skills improve during sleep in a process called consolidation. Such off-line learning in the absence of practice as yet has been experimentally observed only with learners performing relatively simple tasks. In the experiment we report here, we tested whether experienced learners performing a music skill obtain similar sleep-dependent improvements. Participants learned a 12-note melody on the piano, and recalled the melody following 12- or 24-hour intervals that either did or did not include sleep. We found significant sleep-dependent improvements in performance accuracy in the retests that followed intervals of sleep, and no significant improvements following intervals that did not include sleep. This is the first demonstration of consolidation-based enhancement of motor skills in the context of music. We did not find consistent sleep-dependent enhancements in performance speed, but we observed that temporal evenness improved in the absence of practice 24 hours after training.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Atienza, M., & Cantero, J.L. (2001). Complex sound processing during human rem sleep by recovering information from long-term memory as revealed by the mismatch negativity (mmn). Brain Research,901 (1) , 151.
2.
Atienza, M., Cantero, J.L., & Dominguez-Marin, E. (2002). The time course of neural changes underlying auditory perceptual learning. Learning & Memory, 9(3), 138-150.
3.
Atienza, M., Cantero, J.L., & Stickgold, R. (2004). Posttraining sleep enhances automaticity in perceptual discrimination. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 16(1) , 53-64.
4.
Duke, R.A., & Davis, C.M. (2006) . Procedural memory consolidation in the performance of brief keyboard sequences. Journal of Research in Music Education, 54, 111-124.
5.
Fenn, K.M., Nusbaum, H.C., & Margoliash, D. (2003). Consolidation during sleep of perceptual learning of spoken language. Nature, 425(6958), 614-616.
6.
Fischer, S., Hallschmid, M., Elsner, A.L., & Born, J. (2002). Sleep forms memory for finger skills. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 99(18), 11987-11991.
7.
Karni, A., Meyer, G., Rey-Hipolito, G., Jezzard, P., Adams, M., Turner, R., et al. (1998). The acquisition of skilled motor performance: Fast and slow experience-driven changes in primary motor cortex. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 95, 861-868.
8.
Karni, A., Tanne, D., Rubenstien, B.S., & Askenasy, J.J.M. (1994). Dependence on REM sleep of overnight improvement of a perceptual skill. Science, 265(5172), 679-682.
9.
Korman, M., Raz, N., Flash, T., & Karni, A. (2003). Multiple shifts in the representation of a motor sequence during the acquisition of skilled performance. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 100(21) , 12492-12497.
10.
Kuriyama, K., Stickgold, R., & Walker, M.P. (2004). Sleep-dependent learning and motor-skill complexity . Learning & Memory, 11 (6), 705.
11.
Luft, A.R., & Buitrago, M.M. (2005). Stages of motor skill learning . Molecular Neurobiology, 32(3), 205-216.
12.
Maquet, P., Laureys, S., Perrin, F., Ruby, P., Melchior, G., Boly, M., et al. (2003) . Festina lente: Evidences for fast and slow learning processes and a role for sleep in human motor skill learning . Learning & Memory, 10(4), 237-239.
13.
Maquet, P., Schwartz, S., Passingham, R., & Frith, C. (2003). Sleep-related consolidation of a visuomotor skill: Brain mechanisms as assessed by functional magnetic resonance imaging. Journal of Neuroscience, 23(4), 1432-1440.
14.
Maynard, L.M.( 2006). The role of repetition in the practice sessions of artist-teachers and their students. Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, 167, 61-72.
15.
Mednick, S.C., Nakayama, K., Cantero, J.L., Atienza, M., Levin, A.A., Pathak, N., et al. (2002) . The restorative effect of naps on perceptual deterioration. Nature Neuroscience, 5(7), 677.
16.
Mednick, S.C., Nakayama, K., & Stickgold, R. (2003). Sleep-dependent learning: A nap is as good as a night. Nature Neuroscience, 6(7) , 697.
17.
Robertson, E.M., Pascual-Leone, A., & Miall, R.C. (2004) . Current concepts in procedural consolidation . Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 5, 1-7.
18.
Robertson, E.M., Pascual-Leone, A., & Press, D.Z. (2004) . Awareness modifies the skill-learning benefits of sleep. Current Biology, 14, 208-212.
19.
Shadmehr, R., & Brashers-Krug, T. (1997). Functional stages in the formation of human long-term motor memory. Journal of Neuroscience, 17(1), 409-419.
20.
Stickgold, R., James, L., & Hobson, J.A. (2000) . Visual discrimination learning requires sleep after training. Nature Neuroscience, 3(12), 1237-1238.
21.
Vertes, R.P., & Eastman, K.E. (2000). REM sleep is not committed to memory. Behavioral & Brain Sciences, 23(6), 1057-1063, 1083-1121.
22.
Walker, M.P. (2005). A refined model of sleep and the time course of memory formation. Behavioral & Brain Sciences, 28(1),51-104.
23.
Walker, M.P., Brakefield, T., Hobson, J.A., & Stickgold, R. (2003). Dissociable stages of human memory consolidation and reconsolidation. Nature, 425(6958), 616-620.
24.
Walker, M.P., Brakefield, T., Morgan, A., Hobson, J.A., & Stickgold, R. (2002). Practice with sleep makes perfect: Sleep-dependent motor skill learning. Neuron, 35(1), 205-211.
25.
Walker, M.P., Brakefield, T., Seidman, J., Morgan, A., Hobson, J.A., & Stickgold, R. (2003) . Sleep and the time course of motor skill learning . Learning & Memory, 10(4), 275-284.
26.
Walker, M.P., & Stickgold, R. (2004). Sleep-dependent learning and memory consolidation . Neuron, 44(1), 121-133.
