Dreaming about computer games might make you better at them

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2021-10-19 04:00

International

jneurosci

Dreaming about newly learned motor skills could help to enhance your learning of them, according to international researchers. The team compared how well people performed a challenging motor task with and without extra processing during sleep and found that the 'dreamers' were subsequently better at performing the tasks. The study involved participants playing a computer game in which they would move a computer cursor using electrodes attached to their arm muscles. Each command to move the cursor in a particular direction was paired with a unique sound from the game and after practising, the participants played the game blindfolded and moved the cursor based on the sound cue alone. After completing a test round, the participants took a 90-minute nap. The researchers played half of the sound cues during the nap, reactivating the motor memories associated with each cue. After the nap, the participants performed the motions cued during sleep better than the uncued ones.

Media release

From: JNeurosci

Reactivating Memories During Sleep Improves Motor Skills

Extra brain processing during sleep enhances learning of new motor skills

Practice makes perfect, but sleep helps, too. Learning and executing a new motor skill can be enhanced if you can get additional memory processing during sleep, according to new research published in JNeurosci.

Researchers at Northwestern University compared how well participants performed a challenging motor task with and without the extra processing during sleep. The participants played a computer game using a myoelectric computer interface, which enabled them to move a cursor by activating specific arm muscles. Each command to move the cursor in a particular direction was paired with a unique sound; after practicing, the participants played the game blindfolded and moved the cursor based on the sound cue alone.

After completing a test round, the participants took a 90-minute nap. The researchers played half of the sound cues during the nap, reactivating the motor memories associated with each cue. After the nap, the participants performed the motions cued during sleep better than the uncued ones: it took less time to move the cursor, the cursor traveled a more direct route, and fewer superfluous muscles were activated. These results show we can improve the performance of new motor skills by reactivating memories during sleep. This approach could be a way to enhance rehabilitation for stroke or other neurological disorders.

Journal/
conference: JNeurosci

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Northwestern University, USA

Funder: This work was supported in part by the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke grants R01-NS112942 and R01-NS099210, National Science Foundation grant BCS-1829414, and National Institutes of Health training grant T32-HL007909. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

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