Dissociation of motor deficits in learning tasks

描述（由申请人提供）： 学习和产生连续动作的能力是适应行为的基础。这种学习通常是内隐的，在没有意识到最佳动作顺序的情况下发生。基底神经节和小脑被认为是获得内隐学习序列运动的关键。然而，在神经影像学和神经心理学研究中获得的结果提供了一个不一致的图片，这些皮质下结构的贡献。最近的两项调查结果可能有助于深入了解这种差异。首先，运动学习和表现可能取决于运动线索，这是一个在序列学习研究中很少受到关注的变量。其次，运动障碍可能导致继发性认知缺陷，这是由于更多的注意力用于控制受损的运动。拟议的研究旨在在内隐运动学习的皮质下控制背景下解决这些新想法。方法包括行为测试和功能成像与神经健康和受损的个人。这些发现与运动障碍患者康复策略的制定有关，因为该提案旨在确定小脑或基底神经节疾病患者能够学习新技能的条件以及他们受损的条件。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The ability to learn and produce sequential movements is fundamental to adaptive behavior. Such learning is often implicit, occurring without awareness of the optimal sequence of movements. The basal ganglia and cerebellum have been hypothesized to be critical for the acquisition of implicitly learned sequential movements. However, results obtained in neuroimaging and neuropsychological studies provide an inconsistent picture of the contributions of these subcortical structures. Two recent findings may provide insight into such discrepancies. First, motor learning and performance may depend on the movement cues, a variable that has received little attention in sequence learning studies. Second, motor impairments may lead to secondary cognitive deficits due to increased attention devoted to controlling the impaired movement. The proposed studies seek to address these novel ideas in the context of subcortical control of implicit motor learning. Methods include behavioral testing and functional imaging with neurologically healthy and impaired individuals. The findings are relevant to the development of rehabilitation strategies for persons with motor disorders as the proposal seeks to identify conditions under which patients with either cerebellar or basal ganglia disorders are able to learn new skills as well as conditions in which they are impaired.