Dissociable thalamic oscillatory mechanisms support motor sequence learning

Abstract

The ventrointermediate nucleus of the thalamus (VIM) is implicated in motor sequence learning, yet the underlying neural mechanisms remain unclear. We recorded intracranial activity from the human VIM during a serial reaction time task to determine how neural dynamics support learning. Participants responded faster during repeating than randomized sequences. Beta-to-low-gamma activity was greater during repeating sequences and elevated relative to the prestimulus baseline, consistent with emergence and stabilization of learned motor representations. In contrast, beta-phase modulation of high-frequency activity decreased progressively from rest to random to repeated sequence execution. Stronger phase–amplitude coupling was associated with faster responses, reaching significance in the random condition. These findings reveal a dissociation between power and cross-frequency coupling. Together they suggest that thalamic dynamics contribute to motor learning through multiple mechanisms: beta-band power reflects the emergence of learned motor representations, whereas beta–high-frequency coupling is enhanced when the context is less predictable.