Reconsolidation of Motor Memories Is a Time-Dependent Process

Toon T. de Beukelaar, Daniel G. Woolley, Kaat Alaerts, Stephan P. Swinnen, Nicole Wenderoth

Reconsolidation is observed when a consolidated stable memory is recalled, which renders it transiently labile and requires re-stabilization. Motor memory reconsolidation has previously been demonstrated using a three-day design: on day 1 the memory is encoded, on day 2 it is reactivated and experimentally manipulated, and on day 3 memory strength is tested. The aim of the current study is to determine specific boundary conditions in order to consistently degrade motor memory through reconsolidation paradigms. We investigated a sequence tapping task (n = 48) with the typical three-day design and confirmed that reactivating the motor sequence briefly (10 times tapping the learned motor sequence) destabilizes the memory trace and makes it susceptible to behavioral interference. By systematically varying the time delay between memory reactivation and interference while keeping all other aspect constant we found that a short delay (i.e., 20 s) significantly decreased performance on day 3, whereas performance was maintained or small (but not significant) improvements were observed for longer delays (i.e., 60 s). We also tested a statistical model that assumed a linear effect of the different time delays (0 s, 20 s, 40 s, 60 s) on the performance changes from day 2 to day 3. This linear model revealed a significant effect consistent with the interpretation that increasing time delays caused a gradual change from performance degradation to performance conservation across groups. These findings indicate that re-stabilizing motor sequence memories during reconsolidation does not solely rely on additional motor practice but occurs with the passage of time. This study provides further support for the hypothesis that reconsolidation is a time-dependent process with a transition phase from destabilization to re-stabilization.