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When practice does not make perfect: well-practiced handwriting interferes with the consolidation phase gains in
Meirav Balas1, Neta Roitenberg, Nir Giladi
1The Brain Behavior Research Center, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel. mbalas@study.haifa.ac.il
Experimental Brain Research
|November 9, 2006
Summary
Motor memory consolidation is disrupted by well-practiced tasks, even without shared features. This suggests complex movements are simplified in long-term motor memory, impacting procedural learning.
Area of Science:
- Motor learning
- Cognitive neuroscience
- Procedural memory
Background:
- Procedural memory consolidation involves delayed gains and reduced interference.
- Behavioral interference was thought to require overlapping task representations.
- Novel tasks competing for resources were assumed to cause interference.
Purpose of the Study:
- Investigate interference in finger-opposition sequence (FOS) learning.
- Determine if well-practiced complex movements interfere more than less practiced ones.
- Examine interference mechanisms in motor memory consolidation.
Main Methods:
- Participants trained on FOS task under baseline and interference conditions.
- Interference involved writing Hebrew words in native (Hebrew) or Latin (Heblatin) script post-FOS practice.
- Delayed performance gains and susceptibility to interference were measured.
Main Results:
- Native script writing significantly interfered with FOS learning, reducing delayed gains.
- Less practiced Heblatin writing did not cause significant interference.
- Interference occurred despite minimal kinematic or dynamic overlap between tasks.
Conclusions:
- Motor memory interference can happen without direct task overlap.
- Well-practiced complex movements may be represented as simpler sequences in motor memory.
- This challenges assumptions about interference requiring shared task features.
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