Neural Substrates of Practice Structure That Support Future Off-Line Learning

Abstract

Off-line learning is facilitated when motor skills are acquired under a random practice schedule and retention suffers when a similar set of motor skills are practiced under a blocked schedule. The current study identified the neural correlates of a random training schedule while participants learned a set of four-element finger sequences using their nondominant hand during functional magnetic resonance imaging. A go/no go task was used to separately probe brain areas supporting sequence preparation and production. By the end of training, the random practice schedule, relative to the block schedule, recruited a broad premotor-parietal network as well as sensorimotor and subcortical regions during both preparation and production trials, despite equivalent motor performance. Longitudinal analysis demonstrated that preparation-related activity under a random schedule remained stable or increased over time. The blocked schedule showed the opposite pattern. Across individual subjects, successful skill retention was correlated with greater activity at the end of training in the ipsilateral left motor cortex, for both preparation and production. This is consistent with recent evidence that attributes off-line learning to training-related processing within primary motor cortex. These results reflect the importance of an overlooked aspect of motor skill learning. Specifically, how trials are organized during training-with a random schedule-provides an effective basis for the formation of enduring motor memories, through enhanced engagement of core regions involved in the active preparation and implementation of motor programs.

Brain-in-the-Loop Learning Using fNIR and Simulated Virtual Reality Surgical Tasks: Hemodynamic and Behavioral Effects

“…These findings are comparable to those noted by Shewokis and colleagues [5,18,26] using fNIR and 3-D spatial navigation tasks and 3-D UAV piloting tasks [22]. In addition, using fMRI, Wymbs and Grafton [23] reported that the left inferior frontal gyrus was differentially activated during late learning as a function of practice schedule for the sequence execution of a go/no-go task. Shewokis et al [26] showed transfer results illustrating that there is a differential relative mean oxygenation of the left inferior frontal gyrus region (optode #2) for RND and BLK practice orders for spatial navigation tasks.…”

Consolidating behavioral and neurophysiologic findings to explain the influence of contextual interference during motor sequence learning

“…While this general conclusion appears robust, the specific neural regions recruited during random compared to blocked practice was far more limited compared to that reported by Wymbs and Grafton (2009). This may have been a function of Lin et al (2011) describing average activation profiles across only 2 days of practice, noting where heightened activity was observed for random compared to blocked practice as opposed to dissecting neural activity more frequently across training (see ).…”

“…The findings that (1) much of the sequence-specific activation that differentiated practice condition reported by Wymbs and Grafton (2009) was bi-lateral, and (2) many of the active regions were pertinent to developing a representation of the motor sequence in visual-spatial coordinates, suggests that the performer was still at a relatively early point in learning (Dayan & Cohen, 2011;Hikosaka et al, 1999). This being true, it is not surprising that Wymbs and Grafton also reported significant activation in the posterior lateral portion of the cerebellum (i.e., Crus II) during the high CI regime.…”

“…A novel contribution from Lin et al (2011) was to delineate the neural sites recruited during blocked and random delayed tests as a result of being exposed to different practice schedules during training. This was absent in Wymbs and Grafton (2009). During the test, not only did blocked practice participants display the anticipated slower response times for sequence production, but this was accomplished by activating the same motor sequence planning network that their random practice counterparts adopted during the training phase and continued to use, at a reduced level, during the test (see Fig.…”

Adaptation, Expertise, and Giftedness: Towards an Understanding of Cortical, Subcortical, and Cerebellar Network Contributions

“…It is believed that the role the cerebellum plays in such processes is to facilitate the development of progressive, short-cut, anticipatory control models [218,219]. These "models" comprise the most efficient neuronal pathways through which the repeated bodily movements can be executed most quickly [2,220,221].…”