NSF-BSF: Reactivation and sleep in visual and motor skill acquisition: learning beyond training

学习新技能的最好方法是什么？最近的研究揭示了两种使学习变得更快更有效的方法。先前的研究表明，在训练的第一天完全练习了一项运动技能后，你只需要在接下来的几天做一些练习试验来“重新激活”你所学到的东西，就能达到与你每天都练习这项技能相同的技能进步。这种短暂的任务激活如何促进学习仍然是个谜。其他研究表明，睡眠也有助于学习视觉技能。本研究项目的目标是整合这些重要的发现，探索技能训练后的睡眠是否能增强学习，并了解记忆再激活和睡眠如何共同作用以提高技能学习效率的神经基础。在这个美国和以色列合作的项目中，研究人员调查了学习可以增强视觉和运动技能学习的神经机制，并研究了睡眠期间的离线处理是否补偿了清醒期间的少量训练（仅通过少量任务再激活试验）。除了监测研究参与者的学习进度外，他们在睡眠时的大脑活动和大脑神经化学也将被测量。具体来说，本研究通过使用磁共振波谱法无创测量大脑中兴奋性和抑制性神经递质之间的比率（E/I比率）来研究与大脑可塑性相关的神经化学处理。研究结果可能会揭示通过任务再激活学习信息的短暂暴露如何取代广泛的训练，揭示任务再激活和睡眠之间的基本行为和大脑机制，并利用这些知识开发更好的方法来更有效地学习感觉和运动技能。本项目由认知神经科学项目和刺激竞争研究的既定项目（EPSCoR）共同资助。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

What is the best way to learn new skills? Recent studies have revealed two ways in which learning can become faster and more efficient. Previous research has shown that after practicing a motor skill fully on the first day of training, you only need to do a few practice trials on the following days to "reactivate" what you have learned, in order to achieve the same amount of skill improvement as if you had practiced the skill fully every day. How such brief task reactivation facilitates learning remains enigmatic. Other studies have shown how sleep also helps with learning visual skills. The goal of this research project is to integrate these important findings, explore whether sleep after skill training enhances learning and to understand the neural basis of how memory reactivation and sleep work together to make skill learning more efficient. In this collaborative US-Israel project, researchers investigate the neural mechanisms by which learning can be enhanced for both visual and motor skill learning and study whether offline processing during sleep compensates for the minimal amount of training (by only a few trials of task reactivation) during wakefulness. In addition to monitoring the learning progress of the participants in the study, their brain activity during sleep and their brain neurochemistry will also be measured. Specifically, this study examines neurochemical processing related to brain plasticity by non-invasively measuring a ratio between excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters in the brain (E/I ratio) using magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The results may reveal how brief exposure to learned information via task reactivation can replace extensive training, uncover the basic behavioral and brain mechanisms linking task reactivation and sleep, and use that knowledge to develop better methods for more efficient sensory and motor skill learning.This project is jointly funded by the Cognitive Neuroscience Program, and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.