The goal of this study was to investigate offline memory consolidation with regard to general motor skill learning and implicit sequence-specific learning. We trained young adults on a serial reaction time task with a retention interval of either 24 hours (Experiment 1) or 1 week (Experiment 2) between two sessions. We manipulated sequence complexity (deterministic vs. probabilistic) and motor ...

Motor skills can take weeks to months to acquire and can diminish over time in the absence of continued practice. Thus, strategies that enhance skill acquisition or retention are of great scientific and practical interest. Here we investigated the effect of noninvasive cortical stimulation on the extended time course of learning a novel and challenging motor skill task. A skill measure was chos...

This study was to examine how well fourthand fifth-grade students demonstrated motor skill competency assessed with selected PE Metrics assessment rubrics (2009). Fourthand fifth-grade students (n = 1,346-1,926) were assessed on their performance of three manipulative skills using the PE Metrics Assessment Rubrics during the pre-intervention year, the postintervention year 1, and the post-inter...

The mechanisms underlying the emergence of learned motor skill representation in primary motor cortex (M1) are not well understood. Specifically, how motor representation in the deep output layer 5b (L5b) is shaped by motor learning remains virtually unknown. In rats undergoing motor skill training, we detect a subpopulation of task-recruited L5b neurons that not only become more movement-encod...

Postural stability is believed to be a prerequisite for the performance of mature patterns of fundamental motor skills. It has been reported that the development of postural stability is delayed among individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD); further, it may never reach mature levels [1]. Individuals with ASD also commonly exhibit poor motor skills when compared to typically developing p...

This review discusses the cerebral plasticity, and the role of the cortico-striatal system in particular, observed as one is learning or planning to execute a newly learned motor behavior up to when the skill is consolidated or has become highly automatized. A special emphasis is given to imaging work describing the neural substrate mediating motor sequence learning and motor adaptation paradig...