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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Behav. Neurosci.
Sec. Learning and Memory
Volume 18 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2024.1466696

Sleep Improves Accuracy, But Not Speed, of Generalized Motor Learning in Young and Older Adults and in Individuals With Parkinson's Disease

Provisionally accepted
Saar Lanir -Azaria Saar Lanir -Azaria 1,2*Rakefet Chishinski Rakefet Chishinski 1Riva Tauman Riva Tauman 1,2Yuval Nir Yuval Nir 2,3,4,5Nir Giladi Nir Giladi 1,2,3
  • 1 Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel
  • 2 The Sieratzki-Sagol Center for Sleep Medicine Research, Neurological Institute, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel
  • 3 Sagol School of Neuroscience, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
  • 4 Department of Physiology & Pharmacology, Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel
  • 5 Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Iby and Aladar Fleischman Faculty of Engineering, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    An essential aspect of motor learning is generalizing procedural knowledge to facilitate skill acquisition across diverse conditions. Here, we examined the development of generalized motor learning during initial practice-dependent learning, and how distinct components of learning are consolidated over longer timescales during wakefulness or sleep. In the first experiment, a group of young healthy volunteers engaged in a novel motor sequence task over 36 hours in a two-arm experimental design (either morning-evening-morning, or evening-morning-evening) aimed at controlling for circadian confounders. The findings unveiled an immediate, rapid generalization of sequential learning, accompanied by an additional long-timescale performance gain. Sleep modulated accuracy, but not speed, above and beyond equivalent wake intervals. To further elucidate the role of sleep across ages and under neurodegenerative disorders, a second experiment utilized the same task in a group of early-stage, drug-naïve individuals with Parkinson’s disease and in healthy individuals of comparable age. Participants with Parkinson’s disease exhibited comparable performance to their healthy age-matched group with the exception of reduced performance in recalling motor sequences, revealing a disease-related cognitive shortfall. In line with the results found in young subjects, both groups exhibited improved accuracy, but not speed, following a night of sleep. This result emphasizes the role of sleep in skill acquisition and provides a potential framework for deeper investigation of the intricate relationship between sleep, aging, Parkinson’s disease, and motor learning.

    Keywords: adaptation, procedural learning, Sleep-dependent consolidation, transfer, Parkinson ' s disease

    Received: 18 Jul 2024; Accepted: 09 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Lanir -Azaria, Chishinski, Tauman, Nir and Giladi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Saar Lanir -Azaria, Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, 6997801, Tel Aviv, Israel

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.