Variable training but not sleep improves consolidation of motor adaptation

How motor memory consolidates still remains elusive. Consolidation of motor skills has been shown to depend on periods of sleep. Conversely, motor adaptation during tasks not dependent on the hippocampus may not depend on sleep. Some research suggests that the training schedule affects the sleep dependency of motor adaptation tasks. Here, we investigated whether sleep differentially affects memory consolidation that depends on the training schedule. Healthy men were trained with their dominant, right hand on a force-field adaptation task and re-tested after an 11-h consolidation period involving overnight sleep (Sleep) or daytime wakefulness (Wake). Retesting included a transfer test of the non-dominant hand. Half of the subjects in each group adapted to different force-field magnitudes during training with low inter-trial force variability (Sleep-Blocked; Wake-Blocked), and the other half were trained with a high-variability schedule (Sleep-Random; Wake-Random). EEG was recorded during task execution and overnight polysomnography. Consolidation was comparable between Wake and Sleep groups, although performance changes over sleep correlated with sleep spindles nesting in slowwave upstates. Higher training variability improved retest performance, including transfer learning, and these improvements correlated with higher alpha power in contralateral parietal areas. These enhanced consolidation effects might be fostered by feedback rather than feedforward mechanisms

On the integration of due date setting and order release control

This paper calls for a paradigm shift in the production control literature away from assuming due date setting and order release are two independent decision levels. When order release is controlled, jobs do not enter the shop floor directly but are retained in a pre-shop pool and released to meet certain performance targets. This makes the setting of accurate planned release dates - the point at which jobs transition from the pool to the shop floor - a key consideration when setting due dates. We develop a new approach to estimating planned release dates to be embedded in the Workload Control (WLC) concept. Our approach is unique as it anticipates the release decision as part of the due date setting procedure. This makes a second independent release decision superfluous and avoids a major cause of tardiness - deviations between (i) the planned release date used when calculating the delivery time allowance and (ii) the actual, realised release date. Simulation is used to compare the performance of WLC using two decision levels with the new single-level approach where the release decision is anticipated when setting the due date. Performance improvements are shown to be robust to uncertainty in processing time estimates.</p

Préface

International audience[No abstract

Préface

International audience[No abstract

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