Motor sequence learning performance in Parkinson’s disease patients depends on the stage of disease

Abstract

It is still unclear, whether patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) are impaired in the incidental learning of different motor sequences in short succession, although such a deficit might greatly impact their daily life. The aim of this study was thus to clarify the relation between disease parameters of PD and incidental motor learning of two different sequences in short succession. Results revealed that the PD patients were able to acquire two sequences in short succession but needed more time than healthy subjects. However, both the severity of axial manifestations, as assessed on a subsection of the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale III (UPDRS III) and the Hoehn and Yahr score, and the levodopa-equivalent dose (LED) were negatively correlated with the sequence learning performance. These findings indicate that, although PD patients are able to learn two sequences in short succession, they need more time and their overall sequence learning performance is strongly correlated with the stage of disease.