Sigma oscillations protect or reinstate motor memory depending on their temporal coordination with slow waves
- KU Leuven, Belgium
- Unversity of Utah, United States
- Universite de Montreal, Canada
- McGill University, Canada
- Concordia University, Canada
- Université de Montréal, Canada
Abstract
Targeted memory reactivation (TMR) during post-learning sleep is known to enhance motor memory consolidation but the underlying neurophysiological processes remain unclear. Here, we confirm the beneficial effect of auditory TMR on motor performance. At the neural level, TMR enhanced slow wave (SW) characteristics. Additionally, greater TMR-related phase-amplitude coupling between slow (0.5-2 Hz) and sigma (12-16 Hz) oscillations after the SW peak was related to higher TMR effect on performance. Importantly, sounds that were not associated to learning strengthened SW-sigma coupling at the SW trough. Moreover, the increase in sigma power nested in the trough of the potential evoked by the unassociated sounds was related to the TMR benefit. Altogether, our data suggest that, depending on their precise temporal coordination during post learning sleep, slow and sigma oscillations play a crucial role in either memory reinstatement or protection against irrelevant information; two processes that critically contribute to motor memory consolidation.
Data availability
All data can be found at https://zenodo.org/record/6642860#.YqoI46hBzD5. The source code is available at https://github.com/judithnicolas/MotorMemory_OpenLoop_TMR
Article and author information
Author details
Funding
Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (G0D7918N)
- Judith Nicolas
- Bradley R King
- David Levesque
- Latifa Lazzouni
- Stephan Swinnen
- Julien Doyon
- Julie Carrier
- Genevieve Albouy
Fonds de Recherche du Québec - Santé (RRQNT-2018-264146)
- Judith Nicolas
- Bradley R King
- David Levesque
- Latifa Lazzouni
- Stephan Swinnen
- Julien Doyon
- Julie Carrier
- Genevieve Albouy
Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (G0B1419N)
- Genevieve Albouy
Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (G099516N)
- Genevieve Albouy
Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (1524218N)
- Genevieve Albouy
Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (30446199)
- Stephan Swinnen
- Genevieve Albouy
HORIZON EUROPE Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (887955)
- Bradley R King
HORIZON EUROPE Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (703490)
- Judith Nicolas
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Ethics
Human subjects: Young healthy volunteers were recruited by local advertisements to participate in the present study. Participants gave written informed consent before participating in this research protocol, approved by the local Ethics Committee (B322201525025) and conducted according to the declaration of Helsinki (2013). The participants received a monetary compensation for their time and effort.
Copyright
© 2022, Nicolas et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
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Sigma oscillations protect or reinstate motor memory depending on their temporal coordination with slow waves
eLife 11:e73930.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.73930
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