NACS Seminar - Beverly Wright
NACS Seminar - Beverly Wright
Post-training phases of auditory perceptual learning with Beverly Wright (Northwestern University), hosted by Melissa Caras.
During learning, memories are transformed to a stable state through a post-training process of consolidation. Work in non-human species indicates that this process involves multiple phases with distinct time courses and molecular requirements. This work also indicates that the transitions between memory phases are commonly associated with transient memory lapses. However, while these lapses have been thoroughly documented in non-human species, they have been reported only rarely in humans and never for skill learning. Recently, we have observed transient memory lapses in humans on two separate auditory perceptual-learning tasks. For each, a clear reduction in memory occurs 1-3 hours after training. Moreover, the memory-lapse kinetics dovetail with those of two other phenomena: (a) a reconsolidation-like process that ends ~1 hour after training and (b) a learning refractory period that ends ~6-10 hours after training. Thus, perceptual memories undergo a marked shift in the first few post-training hours, and transient memory lapses may be a common but overlooked facet of memory formation in humans.