Effects of the amount of practice and time interval between practice sessions on the retention of internal models

The amount of practice and time interval between practice sessions are important factors that influence motor learning efficiency. Here, we aimed to reveal the relationship between the retention and consolidation of a new internal model, and the amount of practice and time interval between practice sessions. We employed a visuomotor rotation tracking task to test the hypotheses that (1) a new internal model consolidates owing to extensive practice after reaching a task performance plateau and (2) a longer time interval between practice sessions makes it difficult to activate a new internal model. The participants were assigned to one of the four groups that differed in terms of the amount of practice and the time interval between practice sessions. They performed a tracking task in which they experienced 120° clockwise visuomotor rotation and were required to track a moving target on a computer display using a mouse cursor. To evaluate the retention and consolidation of a new internal model, we calculated the aftereffects and savings as measures of motor learning. To the best our knowledge, this is the first study to manipulate both the amount of practice and the time interval between practice sessions simultaneously in one experiment using a visuomotor tracking task. Our results support the previously reported idea that extensive practice is necessary for the consolidation of a new internal model.