Affiliations: Neuropsychology, Faculty of Psychology,
Ruhr-University of Bochum, Germany | Department of Neurology, University of Southern
California, USA | Department of Neurology, University of Tübingen,
Germany
Note: [] Corresponding author: Dr. Markus Schugens, Neuropsychology,
Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr-University of Bochum, 44780 Bochum, Germany.
E-mail: markus.m.schugens@ruhr-uni-bochum.de
Abstract: Motor skill acquisition was investigated in patients with
Parkinson's disease (PD) or cerebellar dysfunction using two sensory-guided
tracking tasks. The subjects had to learn to track a visual target (a square)
on a computer screen by moving a joystick under two different conditions. In
the unreversed task, the horizontal target movements were semi-predictable and
could be anticipated. In the reversed task, the horizontal movements of a
pointer which had to be kept within the target square were mirror-reversed to
the joystick movements. PD patients showed intact learning of the
semi-predictable task and reduced learning of the mirror-reversed task;
patients with cerebellar dysfunction showed the opposite pattern. These
findings are discussed in relation to the differential contribution of the
cerebellum and the striatum to motor skill acquisition: the cerebellum appears
to participate in the implementation of anticipatory movements, whereas the
striatum may be critically involved in types of motor learning which require a
high degree of internal elaboration.
Keywords: Motor skill acquisition, Parkinson's disease, cerebellar dysfunction
