Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen N, Denmark.
Danish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance, Centre for Functional and Diagnostic Imaging and Research, Copenhagen University Hospital Amager and Hvidovre, Hvidovre, Denmark.
Dev Sci. 2024 Nov;27(6):e13536. doi: 10.1111/desc.13536. Epub 2024 Jun 12.
The human central nervous system (CNS) undergoes tremendous changes from childhood to adulthood and this may affect how individuals at different stages of development learn new skills. Here, we studied motor skill learning in children, adolescents, and young adults to test the prediction that differences in the maturation of different learning mechanisms lead to distinct temporal patterns of motor learning during practice and overnight. We found that overall learning did not differ between children, adolescents, and young adults. However, we demonstrate that adult-like skill learning is characterized by rapid and large improvements in motor performance during practice (i.e., online) that are susceptible to forgetting and decay over time (i.e., offline). On the other hand, child-like learning exhibits slower and less pronounced improvements in performance during practice, but these improvements are robust against forgetting and lead to gains in performance overnight without further practice. The different temporal dynamics of motor skill learning suggest an engagement of distinct learning mechanisms in the human CNS during development. In conclusion, adult-like skill learning mechanisms favor online improvements in motor performance whereas child-like learning mechanisms favors offline behavioral gains. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: Many essential motor skills, like walking, talking, and writing, are acquired during childhood, and it is colloquially thought that children learn better than adults. We investigated dynamics of motor skill learning in children, adolescents, and young adults. Adults displayed substantial improvements during practice that was susceptible to forgetting over time. Children displayed smaller improvements during practice that were resilient against forgetting. The distinct age-related characteristics of these processes of acquisition and consolidation suggest that skill learning relies on different mechanisms in the immature and mature central nervous system.
人类中枢神经系统（CNS）在儿童期到成年期经历了巨大的变化，这可能会影响不同发育阶段的个体学习新技能的方式。在这里，我们研究了儿童、青少年和年轻人的运动技能学习，以验证这样一种预测，即不同学习机制的成熟度差异导致了练习和夜间期间运动学习的不同时间模式。我们发现，儿童、青少年和年轻人之间的整体学习没有差异。然而，我们证明，成人样的技能学习的特点是在练习期间（即在线）运动表现迅速而显著地提高，容易随时间遗忘和衰退（即离线）。另一方面，儿童样的学习在练习期间表现出较慢且不明显的性能提高，但这些提高对遗忘具有抗性，并导致夜间无需进一步练习即可提高性能。运动技能学习的不同时间动态表明，在人类中枢神经系统发育过程中，不同的学习机制参与其中。总之，成人样的技能学习机制有利于在线提高运动表现，而儿童样的学习机制有利于离线行为收益。研究亮点：许多基本的运动技能，如行走、说话和写作，都是在儿童期获得的，人们普遍认为儿童比成人学习得更好。我们研究了儿童、青少年和年轻人的运动技能学习动态。成年人在练习期间显示出显著的提高，而这些提高容易随时间遗忘。儿童在练习期间表现出较小的提高，但对遗忘具有抗性。这些获得和巩固过程的不同年龄相关特征表明，技能学习依赖于不成熟和成熟中枢神经系统中不同的机制。
