Retroactive interference from a declarative memory can prevent the consolidation of motor skill memo- 27 ries over wakefulness, but not over a night of sleep. Recently, motor imagery (MI) learning has been 28 showed to allow for a stronger resistance against procedural interference rather than physical practice, 29 but whether declarative interference might impact sleep-dependent consolidation process of an explicit 30 finger tapping task learned with MI remains unknown. To address this issue, 57 subjects mentally 31 rehearsed an explicit finger tapping sequence, and half of them were then requested to practice an inter- 32 ferential declarative task. All participants were re-tested on the initial procedural task either after a night 33 of sleep or a similar daytime interval. The main findings provided evidence that declarative interference 34 affect MI consolidation both over the night- and wakefulness intervals. These results extend our previous 35 findings by underlying that declarative interference might impact more strongly explicit MI practice than 36 physical practice, hence suggesting that MI might rely on declarative memory rather than exclusively on 37 procedural memory system. The relationship between declarative and procedural memories during MI 38 practice, as well as during off-line consolidation, is discussed.

Declarative interference affects off-line processing of motor imagery learning

CASTELLANI, ELEONORA;SEBASTIANI, LAURA
2012-01-01

Abstract

Retroactive interference from a declarative memory can prevent the consolidation of motor skill memo- 27 ries over wakefulness, but not over a night of sleep. Recently, motor imagery (MI) learning has been 28 showed to allow for a stronger resistance against procedural interference rather than physical practice, 29 but whether declarative interference might impact sleep-dependent consolidation process of an explicit 30 finger tapping task learned with MI remains unknown. To address this issue, 57 subjects mentally 31 rehearsed an explicit finger tapping sequence, and half of them were then requested to practice an inter- 32 ferential declarative task. All participants were re-tested on the initial procedural task either after a night 33 of sleep or a similar daytime interval. The main findings provided evidence that declarative interference 34 affect MI consolidation both over the night- and wakefulness intervals. These results extend our previous 35 findings by underlying that declarative interference might impact more strongly explicit MI practice than 36 physical practice, hence suggesting that MI might rely on declarative memory rather than exclusively on 37 procedural memory system. The relationship between declarative and procedural memories during MI 38 practice, as well as during off-line consolidation, is discussed.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11568/233527
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