Distinct mechanisms for online and offline motor skill learning across human development

The human central nervous system (CNS) undergoes tremendous changes from childhood to adulthood and this may affect how individuals at different stages of development learn new skills. Here, we studied motor skill learning in children, adolescents, and young adults to test the prediction that differences in the maturation of different learning mechanisms lead to distinct temporal patterns of motor learning during practice and overnight. We found that overall learning did not differ between children, adolescents, and young adults. However, we demonstrate that adult-like skill learning is characterized by rapid and large improvements in motor performance during practice (i.e., online) that are susceptible to forgetting and decay over time (i.e., offline). On the other hand, child-like learning exhibits slower and less pronounced improvements in performance during practice, but these improvements are robust against forgetting and lead to gains in performance overnight without further practice. The different temporal dynamics of motor skill learning suggest an engagement of distinct learning mechanisms in the human CNS during development. In conclusion, adult-like skill learning mechanisms favor online improvements in motor performance whereas child-like learning mechanisms favors offline behavioral gains.

Research Highlights

• Many essential motor skills, like walking, talking, and writing, are acquired during childhood, and it is colloquially thought that children learn better than adults.
• We investigated dynamics of motor skill learning in children, adolescents, and young adults.
• Adults displayed substantial improvements during practice that was susceptible to forgetting over time. Children displayed smaller improvements during practice that were resilient against forgetting.
• The distinct age-related characteristics of these processes of acquisition and consolidation suggest that skill learning relies on different mechanisms in the immature and mature central nervous system.