| The purpose of this study was to obtain electrophysiological evidence that following motor learning (pursuit rotor task) with mental practice (MP), further memory processing occurs during sleep. Twenty-two university students had their sleep recorded for three consecutive nights (acclimatisation, baseline & test). On the test night, participants were randomly assigned to one of three practice conditions (mental, physical & no-practice) for the pursuit rotor task. It was found that participants in the MP condition had significantly less slow-wave sleep on the test night relative to baseline. Also, preliminary evidence was found suggesting that a model of sleep and motor learning with physical practice extends to motor learning with MP. It was concluded that sleep is involved in the consolidation of motor learning following MP. Limitations of the current study and directions for future research on sleep and learning with MP are discussed.;Keywords: Sleep, Memory Consolidation, Motor Learning, Mental Practice, Motor Imagery. |
