Yadav Goldy, Pal Rahul, Matkar Shraddha, Kumar Neeraj
Institute of Neuroscience, Université catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium.
Department of Liberal Arts, Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad, Hyderabad, India.
Sci Rep. 2025 Mar 23;15(1):10026. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-88997-z.
Newly acquired skill memory can generalize/transfer to the untrained arm. Such interlimb generalization of a learned skill has been shown to be symmetric in our previous work and can be influenced by cognitive processes that emerge during skill learning. However, it is unknown whether engaging in other cognitively demanding tasks following skill acquisition can influence skill generalization. Our research goal was to uncover how a secondary task, involving working memory, interacts with a newly formed skill memory and influences subsequent interlimb generalization. To test this idea, we conducted a set of three experiments by recruiting right-handed young healthy individuals (N = 92) who learned a novel motor skill (long or short training on a skilled reaching task) followed by performing a working memory or control task with the right arm. Finally, all individuals were tested for immediate or delayed (after 24 h) interlimb skill generalization to the untrained left arm. We found significant immediate as well as delayed generalization in individuals who received long training on the motor skill task, irrespective of whether they performed working memory or control task. On the other hand, performing the working memory but not control task following short skill training impaired generalization when the untrained arm was tested 24 h later. These findings indicate that short training reflecting early stages of skill learning and the subsequent skill memory stabilization are dependent on working memory such that the underlying neural interactions mediating these processes can have implications for skill generalization.
新获得的技能记忆可以泛化/转移到未训练的手臂。在我们之前的研究中，已表明所学技能的这种肢体间泛化是对称的，并且会受到技能学习过程中出现的认知过程的影响。然而，技能习得后从事其他需要认知的任务是否会影响技能泛化尚不清楚。我们的研究目标是揭示一项涉及工作记忆的次要任务如何与新形成的技能记忆相互作用，并影响随后的肢体间泛化。为了验证这一想法，我们招募了92名右利手的年轻健康个体进行了一组三个实验，他们学习了一项新的运动技能（在一项熟练的伸手任务上进行长时间或短时间训练），然后用右臂执行一项工作记忆或对照任务。最后，对所有个体进行测试，以评估对未训练的左臂的即时或延迟（24小时后）肢体间技能泛化情况。我们发现，在运动技能任务上接受长时间训练的个体中，无论他们执行的是工作记忆任务还是对照任务，都存在显著的即时和延迟泛化。另一方面，在短时间技能训练后执行工作记忆任务而非对照任务，会在24小时后对未训练的手臂进行测试时损害泛化。这些发现表明，反映技能学习早期阶段的短时间训练以及随后的技能记忆巩固依赖于工作记忆，因此介导这些过程的潜在神经相互作用可能会对技能泛化产生影响。
