Project 460402

Motor memory analogues of recognition and cued-recall testing show that there is information about previously learned movements that is available in motor memory but is not accessed using tests involving active movement (analogous to free recall in verbal learning). The goal of the present studies is to systematically document the properties of human motor memory revealed by each of these techniques, to determine the neural substrates of the information that is accessed with these procedures and to establish the extent to which they might differentially tap into information gained through implicit versus explicit learning processes. Knowing how to access information about learned movements that is not available in tests using active movement testing could contribute to the development of therapeutic techniques that could be applied in rehabilitation.