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

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 90 min daytime nap (n=15) or after quiet wakefulness (n=15). By introducing a slight modification in the formula used to calculate the offline gai...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Sofia Isabel Ribeiro Pereira, Felipe Beijamini, Roberta Almeida Vincenzi, Fernando Mazzilli Louzada
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Thieme Revinter Publicações Ltda. 2015-01-01
Series:Sleep Science
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1984006315000061
Description
Summary: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 90 min 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.
ISSN:1984-0063