Sleep-dependent motor memory formation detected by fMRI

Sleep seems to be essential for the consolidation of procedural memory, such as fast and accurate tapping of a defined sequence of finger movements. Using fMRI we measured activation while subjects were trained on a sequential finger opposition task before a night of sleep or wakefulness and while they were retested 48 hours later. Methods: 8 volunteers performed a 5 finger-to-thumb opposition task with their non-dominant hand (left) as rapidly and accurately as possible, according to a block design with 30-s of rest (8 intervals) alternating with 30-s of task performance (7 intervals). Two different motor seque…