TY - JOUR TI - Sigma oscillations protect or reinstate motor memory depending on their temporal coordination with slow waves AU - Nicolas, Judith AU - King, Bradley R AU - Levesque, David AU - Lazzouni, Latifa AU - Coffey, Emily AU - Swinnen, Stephan AU - Doyon, Julien AU - Carrier, Julie AU - Albouy, Genevieve A2 - Helfrich, Randolph F A2 - Baker, Chris I A2 - Ngo, Hong-Viet VL - 11 PY - 2022 DA - 2022/06/21 SP - e73930 C1 - eLife 2022;11:e73930 DO - 10.7554/eLife.73930 UR - https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.73930 AB - Targeted memory reactivation (TMR) during post-learning sleep is known to enhance motor memory consolidation but the underlying neurophysiological processes remain unclear. Here, we confirm the beneficial effect of auditory TMR on motor performance. At the neural level, TMR enhanced slow wave (SW) characteristics. Additionally, greater TMR-related phase-amplitude coupling between slow (0.5–2 Hz) and sigma (12–16 Hz) oscillations after the SW peak was related to higher TMR effect on performance. Importantly, sounds that were not associated to learning strengthened SW-sigma coupling at the SW trough. Moreover, the increase in sigma power nested in the trough of the potential evoked by the unassociated sounds was related to the TMR benefit. Altogether, our data suggest that, depending on their precise temporal coordination during post learning sleep, slow and sigma oscillations play a crucial role in either memory reinstatement or protection against irrelevant information; two processes that critically contribute to motor memory consolidation. KW - motor learning KW - targeted memory reactivation KW - sleep KW - spindles KW - sigma oscillations KW - slow oscillations KW - memory consolidation JF - eLife SN - 2050-084X PB - eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd ER -