Abstract

Motor learning interacts with and shapes experience-dependent cerebral plasticity. In stroke patients with paresis of the upper limb, motor recovery was proposed to reflect a process of re-learning the lost/impaired skill, which interacts with rehabilitation. However, to what extent stroke patients with hemiparesis may retain the ability of learning with their affected limb remains an unsolved issue, that was addressed by this study. Nineteen patients, with a cerebrovascular lesion affecting the right or the left hemisphere, underwent an explicit motor learning task (finger tapping task, FTT), which was performed with the paretic hand. Eighteen age-matched healthy participants served as controls. Motor performance was assessed during the learning phase (i.e., online learning), as well as immediately at the end of practice, and after 90 min and 24 h (i.e., retention). Results show that overall, as compared to the control group, stroke patients, regardless of the side (left/right) of the hemispheric lesion, do not show a reliable practice-dependent improvement; consequently, no retention could be detected in the long-term (after 90 min and 24 h). The motor learning impairment was associated with subcortical damage, predominantly affecting the basal ganglia; conversely, it was not associated with age, time elapsed from stroke, severity of upper-limb motor and sensory deficits, and the general neurological condition. This evidence expands our understanding regarding the potential of post-stroke motor recovery through motor practice, suggesting a potential key role of basal ganglia, not only in implicit motor learning as previously pointed out, but also in explicit finger tapping motor tasks.

Highlights

  • Communicated by Winston D Byblow.Department of Psychology and Milan Center for Neuroscience‐NeuroMi, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, ItalyDepartment of Neurorehabilitation Sciences, Casa di CuraPoliclinico, Milan, ItalyLaboratory of Neuropsychology, IRCCS Istituto AuxologicoItaliano, Milan, ItalyDepartment of Neurorehabilitation Sciences, IRCCS IstitutoAuxologico Italiano, Milan, ItalyDepartment of Biomedical Sciences for Health, UniversitàDegli Studi di Milano, Milan, ItalyRiabilitazione Specialistica Neuromotoria ‐ Dipartimento di Neuroscienze, ASST “Carlo Poma” di Mantova - Presidio di Riabilitazione Multifunzionale di Bozzolo, Mantua, Italy

  • The present study addressed this issue in stroke patients with upper-limb hemiparesis, by assessing explicit online motor sequence learning in a sequential FTT executed with the paretic limb, and the strength of the retention of the new learned skill

  • Explicit motor sequence learning with the paretic hand is impaired in the majority of the stroke patients enrolled

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Summary

Introduction

Communicated by Winston D Byblow.Policlinico, Milan, ItalyLaboratory of Neuropsychology, IRCCS Istituto AuxologicoItaliano, Milan, ItalyAuxologico Italiano, Milan, ItalyDegli Studi di Milano, Milan, ItalyRiabilitazione Specialistica Neuromotoria ‐ Dipartimento di Neuroscienze, ASST “Carlo Poma” di Mantova - Presidio di Riabilitazione Multifunzionale di Bozzolo, Mantua, Italy. Riabilitazione Specialistica Neuromotoria ‐ Dipartimento di Neuroscienze, ASST “Carlo Poma” di Mantova - Presidio di Riabilitazione Multifunzionale di Bozzolo, Mantua, Italy

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