SPECIFIC CONTRIBUTION OF THE STRIATUM AND THE CEREBELLUM IN VISUOMOTOR SKILL LEARNING

The aim of the present study was to examine the specific contribution of the striatum and the cerebellum in visuomotor skill learning. The p erformance of two groups of patients with Parkinson's disease, and one group of patients with cerebellar lesions, were compared to that of a group of matched normal control subjects on adapted versions of the R epeated Sequence Test (the Random Visuomotor Task), and of the Mirror- Tracing Test (the Triad Task). For the first time in research on the n eural substrates involved in the incremental acquisition of a visuomot or skill, the results yielded a double-dissociation in function betwee n these structures, and suggest that the striatum was preferentially i nvolved in perceptivomotor learning, whereas the cerebellum played a p reponderant role in the sequencing of learned movements.