Implicit sensorimotor adaptation is preserved in Parkinson’s disease

Abstract

Our ability to enact successful goal-directed actions involves multiple learning processes. Among these processes, implicit motor adaptation ensures that the sensorimotor system remains finely tuned in response to changes in the body and environment. Whether Parkinson’s disease impacts implicit motor adaptation remains a contentious area of research: whereas multiple reports show impaired performance in this population, many others show intact performance. While there is a range of methodological differences across studies, one critical issue is that performance in many of the studies may reflect a combination of implicit adaptation and strategic re-aiming. Here, we revisited this controversy using a visuomotor task designed to isolate implicit adaptation. In two experiments, we found that adaptation in response to a wide range of visual perturbations was similar in Parkinson’s disease and matched control participants. Moreover, in a meta-analysis of previously published and unpublished work, we found that the mean effect size contrasting Parkinson’s disease and controls across 16 experiments involving over 200 participants was not significant. Together, these analyses indicate that implicit adaptation is preserved in Parkinson’s disease, offering a fresh perspective on the role of the basal ganglia in sensorimotor learning.

Increased vowel contrast and intelligibility in connected speech induced by sensorimotor adaptation

“…Given that adult-onset motor speech disorders progress in concert with general physiological declines in speech-related subsystems, such as oromotor muscle strength (Baum & Bodner, 1983;Robbins et al, 1995) and auditory acuity (Cruickshanks et al, 1998;Gadkaree et al, 2016), we included participants across the lifespan and found no evidence that formant adaptation is limited by healthy aging. At present, it seems that sensorimotor adaptation of speech is relatively preserved across the lifespan as well as (if somewhat diminished) in dysarthria (Mollaei et al, 2013;Mollaei et al, 2016;Polsterer, 2024; see also Tsay et al, 2022 andBock &Schneider, 2002). Together, this evidence suggests that sensorimotor adaptation to vowel centralization may benefit persons who present with reduced vowel spaces.…”

Age-related changes in motor planning for prior intentions: a mouse tracking reach-to-click task

“…More recently, the computer mouse has been used as a valid tool to study motor adaptation and sensorimotor learning ( Lee et al, 2016 ; Avraham et al, 2021 ; Listman et al, 2021 ; Tsay et al, 2021 , 2023 ; Balestrucci et al, 2022 ; Donovan et al, 2022 ; Weightman et al, 2022 ) across a wide age range from 18 to 70 ( Tsay et al, 2023 ). It has been found such data collected through computer mouse are reliable, valid, and able to reproduce classic findings as in the literature examined 3D real-world hand movements, even among children between 9 and 16 ( Malone et al, 2023 ), older people with and without Parkinson’s disease ( Tsay et al, 2022 ) and individuals with impaired visual function ( Tsay et al, 2023 ).…”

Predictors of sensorimotor adaption: insights from over 100,000 reaches

“…Studies of sensorimotor adaptation are typically conducted with specially designed apparatuses in controlled laboratory settings. This approach has been extremely successful in revealing critical spatial (17)(18)(19)(20) and temporal (21)(22)(23)(24)(25) constraints on adaptation, as well as examining the contributions of different neural systems to this form of learning (1,2,12,(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32). However, in-person research typically involves small, homogenous samples (33), making certain research questions impractical and difficult to answer (e.g., exploring how different demographic factors modulate motor behavior).…”