Sleep has no critical role in implicit motor sequence learning in young and old adults
Abstract
The influence of sleep on motor skill consolidation has been a research topic of increasing interest. In this study, we distinguished general skill learning from sequence-specific learning in a probabilistic implicit sequence learning task (alternating serial reaction time) in young and old adults before and after a 12-h offline interval which did or did not contain sleep (p.m.-a.m. and a.m.-p.m. groups, respectively). The results showed that general skill learning, as assessed via overall reaction time, improved offline in both the young and older groups, with the young group improving more than the old. However, the improvement was not sleep-dependent, in that there was no difference between the a.m.-p.m. and p.m.-a.m. groups. We did not find sequence-specific offline improvement in either age group for the a.m.-either p.m. or p.m.-a.m. groups, suggesting that consolidation of this kind of implicit motor sequence learning may not be influenced by sleep.
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Sleep-dependent benefits are also not consistently revealed in younger subjects for this task, possibly due to the great complexity of the underlying sequence rules associated with a higher degree of implicitness at learning.
“However, sleepdependent benefits are also not consistently revealed in younger subjects for this task, possibly due to the great complexity of the underlying sequence rules associated with a higher degree of implicitness at learning (852,1122,1123).”
From About Sleep's Role in Memory (2013) · cites this paper as [852]
The Discussion (pp. 13–14) reports no sleep-dependent benefit in young adults on the ASRT task and says sleep effects are likely task-dependent. The paper describes its sequences as probabilistic and second-order and notes that participants generally lack explicit knowledge of them (p. 3). It does not specifically propose that the complexity of the sequence rules, through greater implicitness at learning, explains the absent benefit. (LLM, conf=0.84)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredSleep also did not improve performance in a second-order probabilistic SRTT in old subjects (60-80 years).
“Finally, sleep also did not improve performance in a second-order probabilistic SRTT in old subjects (60 -80 years) (852).”
From About Sleep's Role in Memory (2013) · cites this paper as [852]
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Cites
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Sleep modulates word-pair learning but not motor sequence learning in healthy older adults
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Age-related differences in sleep-based memory consolidation: a meta-analysis
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Sleep strengthens predictive sequence coding
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- Authors
- Nemeth, D., Janacsek, K., Londe, Z., Ullman, M. T., Howard, D. V., & Howard, J. H.
- Affiliations
- University of Szeged (HU)
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- Georgetown University (US)
- Venue
- Experimental Brain Research
- Published
- 2009-10-01
- Volume
- 201
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 351-358
- ISSN
- 0014-4819 (ISSN-L)
- 1432-1106
- OpenAlex
- W2077434520
- Cited by
- 202
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 16 · 2021: 18 · 2020: 14 · 2019: 17 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 18 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 11 · 2014: 16 · 2013: 19 · 2012: 8
- FWCI
- 2.75
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Experimental Brain Research (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Greenwich Academic Literature Archive (University of Greenwich) (acceptedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Sleep and Wakefulness Research
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Motor Control and Adaptation
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Keywords
- sleep, motor sequence learning, implicit learning, motor skill consolidation, aging, older adults, young adults, offline learning
- MeSH terms
- Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Aging, Data Interpretation, Statistical, Female, Humans, Male, Memory, Middle Aged, Motor Skills, Reaction Time, Serial Learning, Sleep, Young Adult
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