Reactivation or transformation? Motor memory consolidation associated with cerebral activation time-locked to sleep spindles

PLoS One. 2017 Apr 19;12(4):e0174755. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0174755. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

Motor memory consolidation is thought to depend on sleep-dependent reactivation of brain areas recruited during learning. However, up to this point, there has been no direct evidence to support this assertion in humans, and the physiological processes supporting such reactivation are unknown. Here, simultaneous electroencephalographic and functional magnetic resonance imaging (EEG-fMRI) recordings were conducted during post-learning sleep to directly investigate the spindle-related reactivation of a memory trace formed during motor sequence learning (MSL), and its relationship to overnight enhancement in performance (reflecting consolidation). We show that brain regions within the striato-cerebello-cortical network recruited during training on the MSL task, and in particular the striatum, were also activated during sleep, time-locked to spindles. Interestingly, the consolidated trace in the striatum was not simply strengthened, but was transformed/reorganized from rostrodorsal (associative) to caudoventral (sensorimotor) subregions. Moreover, the degree of the reactivation was correlated with overnight improvements in performance. Altogether, the present findings demonstrate that striatal reactivation linked to sleep spindles in the post-learning night, is related to motor memory consolidation.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Cerebellum / anatomy & histology
  • Cerebellum / physiology*
  • Cerebral Cortex / anatomy & histology
  • Cerebral Cortex / physiology*
  • Corpus Striatum / anatomy & histology
  • Corpus Striatum / physiology*
  • Efferent Pathways / anatomy & histology
  • Efferent Pathways / physiology
  • Electroencephalography
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Learning / physiology*
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Male
  • Memory Consolidation / physiology*
  • Polysomnography
  • Psychomotor Performance / physiology*
  • Sleep / physiology

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) to AC, HB, JC and JD. Fellowship support from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the Fonds de Recherche du Québec - Santé (FRQS) to SF. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.