Manipulating the rapid consolidation periods in a learning task affects general skills more than statistical learning and change dynamics of learning

Abstract

Memory consolidation processes have traditionally been investigated from the perspective of hours or days. However, the latest developments in memory research showed that memory consolidation processes could occur even within seconds, possibly due to the neural replay of just-practiced memory traces during short breaks. Here, we investigate this rapid form of consolidation during statistical learning. We aim to answer (a) whether this rapid consolidation occurs in implicit statistical learning and general skill learning and (b) whether the duration of rest periods affects these two learning types differently. Participants performed a widely used statistical learning task - the Alternating Serial Reaction Time (ASRT) task - that enables us to measure implicit statistical and general skill learning separately. The ASRT task consisted of 25 learning blocks with a rest period between the blocks. In a between-subjects design, the length of the rest periods was fixed at 15 or 30 seconds, or the participants could control the length themselves. We found that the duration of rest periods does not affect the amount of statistical knowledge acquired but does change the dynamics of learning. Shorter rest periods led to better learning during the learning blocks, whereas longer rest periods promoted learning also in the between block rest periods, possibly due to the higher amount of replay. Moreover, we found weaker general skill learning in the self-paced group than in the fixed rest period groups. These results suggest that distinct learning processes are differently affected by the duration of short rest periods.