RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Adaptation to Visuomotor Transformations: Consolidation, Interference, and Forgetting
JF The Journal of Neuroscience
JO J. Neurosci.
FD Society for Neuroscience
SP 473
OP 478
DO 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4218-04.2005
VO 25
IS 2
A1 Krakauer, John W.
A1 Ghez, Claude
A1 Ghilardi, M. Felice
YR 2005
UL http://www.jneurosci.org/content/25/2/473.abstract
AB The paradigm task A→task B→task A, which varies the time interval between task A and task B, has been used extensively to investigate the consolidation of motor memory. Consolidation is defined as resistance to retrograde interference (interference by task B on initial learning of task A). Consolidation has been demonstrated for simple skills, motor sequencing, and learning of force fields. In contrast, evidence to date suggests that visuomotor learning does not consolidate. We have shown previously that adaptation to a 30° screen-cursor rotation is faster and more complete on relearning 24 hr later. This improvement is prevented if a 30° counter-rotation is learned 5 min after the original rotation. Here, we sought to identify conditions under which rotation learning becomes resistant to interference by a counter-rotation. In experiment 1, we found that interference persists even when the counter-rotation is learned 24 hr after the initial rotation. In experiment 2, we removed potential anterograde interference (interference by task B on relearning of task A) by introducing washout blocks before all of the learning blocks. In contrast to experiment 1, we found resistance to interference (i.e., consolidation) when the counter-rotation was learned after 24 hr but not after 5 min. In experiment 3, we doubled the amount of initial rotation learning and found resistance to interference even after 5 min. Our results suggest that persistent interference is attributable to anterograde effects on memory retrieval. When anterograde effects are removed, rotation learning consolidates both over time and with increased initial training.