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Rapid Consolidation of Motor Memory in the Vestibuloocular Reflex

¹Division of Fundamental Neurobiology, Toronto Western Research Institute, University Health Network, Toronto; and ²Department of Physiology and ³Division of Neurology, Department of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Submitted 24 September 2007; accepted in final form 27 October 2007

Motor memory is relatively labile immediately after learning but can become more stable through consolidation. We investigated consolidation of motor memory in the vestibuloocular reflex (VOR). Cats viewed the world through telescopic lenses during 60 min of passive rotation. Learned decreases (gain-down learning) and increases in the VOR gain (gain-up learning) were measured during sinusoidal rotation at 2 Hz. We found that if rotation in darkness immediately followed learning, the gain of the VOR reverted toward its prelearning value, indicating that expression of the memory was disrupted. If after gain-down learning the cat spent another 60 min stationary without form vision, subsequent disruption did not occur, suggesting that memory had consolidated. Consolidation was less robust for gain-up learning. We conclude that memory in the VOR is initially labile but consolidates rapidly and consistently after gain-down learning.