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Hippocampal contribution to early and later stages of implicit motor sequence learning

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Abstract

Implicit motor sequence learning refers to an important human ability to acquire new motor skills through the repeated performance of a motor sequence. This learning process is characterized by slow, incremental gains of motor performance. The present fMRI study was developed to better delineate the areas supporting these temporal dynamics of learning. By using the serial color matching paradigm, our study focused on the motor level of sequence learning and tracked the time course of learning-related neural changes. Imaging results showed a significant contribution of the left anterior hippocampus in an early sequence acquisition stage (first scanning session) as well as during a later stage with stabilized learning effects (second scanning session). Hippocampal activation significantly correlated with the behavioral learning process and was affected by a change of the motor sequence. These results suggest a strong involvement of the hippocampus in implicit motor sequence learning. On the other hand, a very extensive and bilateral neural network of parietal, temporal and frontal cortical areas (including SMA, pre-SMA) together with parts of the cerebellum and striatum were found to play a role during random visuo-motor task performance.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by grant P6/29 from Interuniversitary Attraction Poles program of the Belgian federal government. The first author was supported by a grant from the Research Council of Ghent University. The second author is a Postdoctoral fellow of the Research Foundation—Flanders (FWO—Vlaanderen). We wish to thank Seppe Santens and Michael Stevens for their assistance in programming the experiment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Henri Dunantlaan 2, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

    Freja Gheysen, Filip Van Opstal & Wim Fias

  2. Department of Women’s and Children’s Health, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden

    Chantal Roggeman

  3. Department of Rehabilitation Sciences and Physiotherapy, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

    Hilde Van Waelvelde

  4. Ghent Institute for Functional and Metabolic Imaging, Ghent University, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

    Wim Fias

Authors
  1. Freja Gheysen
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  2. Filip Van Opstal
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  3. Chantal Roggeman
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  4. Hilde Van Waelvelde
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  5. Wim Fias
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Correspondence to Freja Gheysen.

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Gheysen, F., Van Opstal, F., Roggeman, C. et al. Hippocampal contribution to early and later stages of implicit motor sequence learning. Exp Brain Res 202, 795–807 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-010-2186-6

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