Research article summary (published 20 Mar 2008):

Patients with Parkinson's disease learn to control complex systems via procedural as well as non-procedural learning.

Full Abstract

The striatum is considered to mediate some forms of procedural learning. Complex dynamic control (CDC) tasks involve an individual having to make a series of sequential decisions to achieve a specific outcome (e.g. learning to operate and control a car), and they involve procedural learning. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that patients with Parkinson's disease who have striatal dysfunction, are impaired on CDC tasks only when learning involves procedural learning. 26 patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and 26 age-matched controls performed two CDC tasks, one in which training was observation-based (non-procedural), and a second in which training was action-based (procedural). Both groups were able to control the system to a specific criterion equally well, regardless of the training condition. However, when reporting their knowledge of the underlying structure of the system, both groups showed poorer accuracy when learning took place through observation-based compared with action-based training. Moreover, the controls' accuracy in reporting the underlying structure of the systems was superior to that of PD patients. The findings suggest that the striatal dysfunction in Parkinson's disease is not associated with impairment of procedural learning, regardless of whether the task involved procedural learning or not. It is possible that the learning and performance on CDC tasks are mediated by perceptual priming mechanisms in the neocortex.

Author information

Author/s: Osman, Magda (M); Wilkinson, Leonora (L); Beigi, Mazda (M); Castaneda, Cristina Sanchez (CS); Jahanshahi, Marjan (M);

Affiliation: Department of Psychology, University College London, 26 Bedford Way, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom. m.osman(-atsign-)ucl.ac.uk

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Neuropsychologia (Neuropsychologia), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2008-; vol 46 (issue 9) : pp 2355-63

Dates: Created 2008/06/03; Completed 2008/09/11;

PMID: 18440038, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 2/18/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Aged Analysis of Variance Attention - physiology Case-Control Studies Concept Formation - physiology Female Humans Learning - physiology Male Memory - physiology Middle Aged

Middle Aged Neostriatum - physiopathology Neuropsychological Tests - statistics & numerical data Parkinson Disease - physiopathology Practice (Psychology) Problem Solving - physiology Psychomotor Performance - physiology Questionnaires Reaction Time - physiology Reference Values Serial Learning - physiology

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