Deficits in long-term retention of learned motor skills in patients with cortical or subcortical degeneration.
We investigated the acquisition and long-term retention of new skills in patients with cortical (Alzheimer's disease, AD) and subcortical (progressive supranuclear palsy, PSP; Parkinson's disease, PD) degeneration. The motor skill task performance of the PD and PSP patients improved with training, but the improvement disappeared within a few months, whereas AD patients retained learned skills for 3-18 months. The results of our experiments show that subcortical dysfunction induces a retention deficit for newly learned motor skills. Our present study suggests that a normal striatum is necessary for the formation of long-lasting motor skills, and that the striatum plays an important role as a motor skill consolidation system.
Mochizuki-Kawai
Hiroko
H
Department of Neurology, Showa University School of Medicine, 1-5-8 Hatanodai, Shinagawa-Ku, Tokyo 142-8666, Japan.
Kawamura
Mitsuru
M
Hasegawa
Yukihiro
Y
Mochizuki
Satoshi
S
Oeda
Reiko
R
Yamanaka
Katsuo
K
Tagaya
Hirokuni
H
D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009048:Motor Skills / Q000502:physiology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012153:Retention, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*; D013494:Supranuclear Palsy, Progressive / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013997:Time Factors