Sleep Consolidation Potentiates Sensorimotor Adaptation.

Contrary to its well-established role in declarative learning, the impact of sleep on motor memory consolidation remains a subject of debate. Current literature suggests that while motor skill learning benefits from sleep, consolidation of sensorimotor adaptation (SMA) depends solely on the passage of time. This has led to the proposal that SMA may be an exception to other types of memories.

The Origins of Anterograde Interference in Visuomotor Adaptation.

Anterograde interference refers to the negative impact of prior learning on the propensity for future learning. There is currently no consensus on whether this phenomenon is transient or long lasting, with studies pointing to an effect in the time scale of hours to days. These inconsistencies might be caused by the method employed to quantify performance, which often confounds changes in learning rate and retention.

Dissociation between memory reactivation and its behavioral expression: scopolamine interferes with memory expression without disrupting long-term storage.

The reconsolidation hypothesis has challenged the traditional view of fixed memories after consolidation. Reconsolidation studies have disclosed that the mechanisms mediating memory retrieval and the mechanisms that underlie the behavioral expression of memory can be dissociated, offering a new prospect for understanding the nature of experimental amnesia. The muscarinic antagonist scopolamine has been used for decades to induce experimental amnesias The goal of the present study is to determine whether the amnesic effects of scopolamine are due to storage (or retrieval) deficits or, alternatively, to a decrease in the long-term memory expression of a consolidated long-term memory.