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The differential effect of PD and normal aging on early explicit sequence learning

From the Center for Neurobiology and Behavior (Drs. Ghilardi, Silvestri, and Ghez), Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY; INB-CNR (Dr. Ghilardi), Milan, Italy; and Center for Neuroscience (Dr. Eidelberg), Department of Neurology, North Shore–Long Island Jewish Research Institute, Manhasset, NY, and New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY.

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Maria-Felice Ghilardi, Center for Neurobiology & Behavior, Columbia University, PI Annex Room 819, New York, NY 10032; e-mail: mg79{at}columbia.edu

Background: Motor sequence learning is abnormal in PD. However, it is not known whether this defect is present during the earliest stages of the illness or whether it reflects specific limitations in dividing attention between cognitive and motor requirements.

Methods: Fifteen patients with early stage PD and 10 age-matched and 9 younger normal controls moved the right dominant hand on a digitizing tablet to eight targets presented on a screen in synchrony with a tone at 1-second intervals. The tasks were as follows: 1) CCW—a timed-response task where targets appeared in a predictable counterclockwise order; 2) RAN—a reaction time task where targets were random and unpredictable; 3) SEQ—a task with multiple demands emphasizing explicit learning and target anticipation in which subjects learned a sequence while reaching for targets; and 4) VSEQ—subjects learned a visual sequence without moving.

Results: CCW and RAN yielded similar results in all groups. In patients with PD, sequence learning was the same in SEQ and VSEQ and was slower compared to both control groups. In older controls, learning was faster in VSEQ than in SEQ, whereas younger controls learned equally fast in both tasks.

Conclusions: Despite normal motor execution, the initial phases of sequence learning are impaired in early PD independent of task requirements, possibly reflecting reduced working memory. Learning was slower in older than younger controls only in tasks with multiple demands, presumably due to reduced attentional resources.

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