Acquisition and Retention of Motor Memories in Adults and Typically Developing Children

Our motor skills require motor memories without which our behavior is only reflexes and stereotypies. The way which these memories form in the human brain constitute therefore a major challenge for neuroscience research. Some a lot of evidence suggests that any new motor skills is acquired in the cerebellum and then persisted in the cortex. This vision seems however caricature, the formation of memories motor probably requiring complex remodeling of cortico-cerebellar networks. The MotorMemo project aspires to better understand this remodeling, by testing more specifically the hypothesis of cerebellar weakening and strengthening cortical as a substrate for the formation of motor memories. A longitudinal study using a sensorimotor adaptation protocol, fMRI as well as a developmental perspective is proposed to verify this hypothesis.