Sleep Enhances Motor Skill Memory Consolidation by Promoting Dendritic Spine Formation and Persistence

A new study has found that sleep plays a critical role in creating long-term memories of motor skills, such as playing a musical instrument or riding a bicycle. Scientists from the US and Japan discovered that during sleep, the brain transfers motor skills learned during wakefulness from temporary storage in the hippocampus to more permanent storage in the neocortex. The study found that sleep-deprived mice experienced significantly less dendritic spine formation in the brain, which is responsible for neural communication, than those who slept regularly, suggesting that sleep plays a critical role in creating long-term memories of motor skills. The study also found that new spines that formed during post-learning sleep were more persistent, suggesting that sleep helps strengthen new memories. The findings were achieved through imaging the brains of mice while they learnt to run on a wheel, and then monitoring their brains while they slept. The researchers hope the discovery will lead to new therapies for patients who have lost motor skills due to injury or disease.