Serial reaction time learning and Parkinson's disease: evidence for a procedural learning deficit

Neuropsychologia. 1995 May;33(5):577-93. doi: 10.1016/0028-3932(95)00010-z.

Abstract

This paper presents evidence in support of a serial reaction time (SRT) deficit associated with Parkinson's disease, and related to the acquisition or execution of serial-order information. Eleven patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease, and 10 age-matched but otherwise healthy control subjects, were compared on a variant of the SRT task introduced by Nissen and Bullemer (Cognit. Psychol. 19, 1-32, 1987). The results of this study clearly demonstrate that PD patients produce a quite different pattern of RT performance to that of control subjects. Such a pattern of results may reflect either: (1) a deficit in the patients' ability to learn the temporal order information provided by a repeating sequence of target locations in the SRT task; or (2) a deficit in the patients' ability to express temporal order information provided by the repeating sequence of target locations in the SRT task.

Publication types

  • Clinical Trial
  • Comparative Study
  • Randomized Controlled Trial

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Learning Disabilities / diagnosis*
  • Learning Disabilities / etiology*
  • Learning*
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Parkinson Disease / complications*
  • Psychomotor Disorders / etiology
  • Reaction Time*
  • Task Performance and Analysis