ACQUISITION AND LONG-TERM RETENTION OF A FINE MOTOR SKILL IN ALZHEIMERS-DISEASE

This study investigated the acquisition and long-term retention of the rotary pursuit task under varying amounts of practice in 12 moderate- to-severely demented AD patients and 12 healthy older adults. Equal nu mbers of AD and control subjects were randomly assigned to either 40, 80, or 120 trials of training (40 trials/day) on the rotary pursuit ta sk, followed by 15-trial retention tests 20 min, 2 days, 7 days, and 3 7 days following the end of practice. Performance improved significant ly in both groups during the first 40 trials, while additional practic e provided no ensuing positive or negative effects. Further, subjects in both groups showed minimal forgetting across the four retention res ts. Therefore, the results demonstrated that AD patients can effective ly learn and retain a motor skill for at least 1 month. (C) 1995 Acade mic Press, Inc.