Abstract
Sex differences in procedural skill learning have not been well characterized. Skill learning is an important area to explore in clinical settings that involve rehabilitation and deficit remediation, especially for returning Veterans that have a range of co-morbid conditions (traumatic brain injury, posttraumatic stress disorder, and depression) and possess impairments in multiple domains. Sixty-five (55 males, 10 females) Veterans completed two procedural learning tasks and answered self-report questionnaires. Participants’ performance and total learning slope were analyzed to determine sex differences in learning. Our results revealed sex differences in both tasks demonstrating females tend to perform better than males with a large effect size for these mean differences. While females performed better on the procedural learning tasks compared to males, their rate of learning was equivalent. Skill learning is an important requisite for rehabilitation, as skill learning is necessary to perform daily activities in new settings. Ultimately, these results provide insight into skill learning in Veterans with a range of co-morbid conditions and provide support for further investigation of sex differences in procedural learning.
Highlights
Veterans who have been exposed to combat are at greater risk for traumatic brain injury (TBI), posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and/or depression [1] [2] [3] [4]
For the serial reaction time task (SRT), while education was not correlated with performance on the task, r(59) = −0.162, p = 0.221, there was an association with age, r(59) = −0.324, p = 0.012, indicating that as reaction time for benefit improves, age decreases (Figure 1(a)); it was included as a covariate in linear mixed-effect and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) models
For the weather prediction task (WPT), while age was not correlated to performance on the task, r(56) = −0.107, p = 0.430, there was an association with education, r(56) = 0.301, p = 0.024, demonstrating that as performance improves, the number of years of education increases (Figure 1(b)); it was included as a covariate in linear mixed-effect and ANCOVA models
Summary
Veterans who have been exposed to combat are at greater risk for traumatic brain injury (TBI), posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and/or depression [1] [2] [3] [4]. The prevalence of TBI in Veterans ranges from 15% - 30% [5] [6], 10% - 30% for PTSD [1] [7], and 11.5% - 16% for depression [7] These conditions are related to impairments in cognition and memory [2] [8] [9] [10]. One domain that has not been well characterized in Veterans is procedural learning, skill learning. Procedural learning is a type of non-declarative learning that occurs gradually via repetition and often involves acquisition of motor and cognitive skills [11]
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