Reactivation-induced motor skill modulation does not operate at a rapid micro-timescale level

Abstract

Abstract Abundant evidence shows that consolidated memories are susceptible to modifications following their reactivation. Processes of memory consolidation and reactivation-induced skill modulation have been commonly documented after hours or days. Motivated by studies showing rapid consolidation in early stages of motor skill acquisition, here we asked whether motor skill memories are susceptible to modifications following brief reactivations, even at initial stages of learning. In a set of experiments, we collected crowdsourced online motor sequence data to test whether post-encoding interference and performance enhancement occur following brief reactivations in early stages of learning. Results indicate that memories forming during early learning are not susceptible to interference nor to enhancement within a rapid reactivation-induced time window, relative to control conditions. This set of evidence suggests that reactivation-induced motor skill memory modulation might be dependent on consolidation at the macro-timescale level, requiring hours or days to occur.