Re-examining sleep׳s effect on motor skills: How to access performance on the finger tapping task?

Publication date: Available online 10 February 2015 Source:Sleep Science Author(s): Sofia Isabel Ribeiro Pereira , Felipe Beijamini , Roberta Almeida Vincenzi , Fernando Mazzilli Louzada Here our goal was to determine the magnitude of sleep-related motor skill enhancement. Performance on the finger tapping task (FTT) was evaluated after a 90min daytime nap (n=15) or after quiet wakefulness (n=15). By introducing a slight modification in the formula used to calculate the offline gains we were able to refine the estimated magnitude of sleep׳s effect on motor skills. The raw value of improvement after a nap decreased after this correction (from ~15% to ~5%), but remained significantly higher than the control. These results suggest that sleep does indeed play a role in motor skill consolidation.
Source: Sleep Science - Category: Sleep Medicine Source Type: research