Neural correlates of skill acquisition: Decreased cortical activity during a serial interception sequence learning task

► We studied neural correlates of learning a precisely timed motor sequence with fMRI. ► Sequence learning led to more efficient visually-cued motor performance. ► Sequence learning decreased activity in occipital, parietal, and premotor cortex. ► Knowledge of inter-item timing and sequential order information are integrated. ► Increased activity was observed in reward-related areas of the ventral striatum.