Measuring implicit sequence learning and dual task ability in mild to moderate Parkinson´s disease: A feasibility study

Abstract

We investigated the feasibility aspects of two choice reaction time tasks designed to assess implicit sequence learning and dual task ability in individuals with mild to moderate Parkinson’s disease in comparison to healthy individuals. Twelve individuals with mild to moderate Parkinson’s disease and 12 healthy individuals, all ≥ 60 years of age, were included. A serial reaction time task was used as a measure of implicit sequence learning and a similar task but with the addition of a simple counting task, was used as a measure of dual task ability. We have present thorough descriptive statistics of the data but we have refrained from any inferential statistics due to the small sample size. All participants understood the task instructions and the difficulty level of both tasks was deemed acceptable. There were indications of task fatigue that demand careful choices for how best to analyse the data from such tasks in future trials. Ceiling effects were present in several accuracy outcomes, but not in the reaction time outcomes. Overall, we found both tasks to be feasible to use in samples of individuals with mild to moderate Parkinson’s disease and healthy older individuals.

Behavioural and neuroplastic effects of a double-blind randomised controlled balance exercise trial in people with Parkinson’s disease

“…A 3T Phillips Ingenia scanner with a 15channel head coil with the following parameters was used: repetition/echo time = 2085/35 ms, flip angle = 75°, voxel-size: 3.5 × 3.5 × 3.5 mm, field of view: 224 × 224 × 140, 265 slices in ascending order. The fMRI data were acquired during a computer-based motor learning task named the serial reaction time task developed by Nissen and Bullemer 38 and modified in a feasibility study by our research group 39 . The serial reaction time task has the benefit of requiring actual motor action but only minimal finger movements, unlikely to induce head movements to a great extent.…”

Let the force guide you: a performance-based adaptive algorithm for postural training using haptic feedback

“…This ramp function could theoretically keep decreasing the tolerance value, even if the participant's performance is constant. Previous studies indicate that there could be a ceiling effect in terms of motor performance, especially for tasks with lower task difficulty (Bonassi et al, 2020;Freidle et al, 2021). To ensure the algorithm's stability, permissible tolerance should stabilize when the user's performance approaches ceiling values.…”