The Value of the Follow-Through Derives from Motor Learning Depending on Future Actions

Summary

In ball sports, we are taught to follow through, despite the inability of events after contact or release to influence the outcome [ 1, 2]. Here we show that the specific motor memory active at any given moment critically depends on the movement that will be made in the near future. We demonstrate that associating a different follow-through movement with two motor skills that normally interfere [ 3–7] allows them to be learned simultaneously, suggesting that distinct future actions activate separate motor memories. This implies that when learning a skill, a variable follow-through would activate multiple motor memories across practice, whereas a consistent follow-through would activate a single motor memory, resulting in faster learning. We confirm this prediction and show that such follow-through effects influence adaptation over time periods associated with real-world skill learning. Overall, our results indicate that movements made in the immediate future influence the current active motor memory. This suggests that there is a critical time period both before [ 8] and after the current movement that determines motor memory activation and controls learning.

Highlights

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  Future movements determine which motor memory is currently active and modifiable

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  Skills that otherwise interfere can be learned if each has a unique follow-through

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  A single skill is learned faster if its follow-through is consistent

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  Selection of motor memories depends on both lead-in and follow-through movements

Abstract

For a motor skill to be learned, its motor memory must be stored, protected from interference, and reactivated for modification during practice. Howard et al. demonstrate that future movement determines which motor memory is currently active and that a consistent follow-through constrains skill acquisition to a single memory, thereby speeding up learning.