Preserved implicit learning on both the serial reaction time task and artificial grammar in patients with Parkinson's disease

Thirteen nondemented patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) were compared w ith age-matched controls on two standard tests of implicit learning. A verb al version of the Serial Reaction Time (SRT) task was used to assess sequen ce learning and an artificial grammar (AG) task assessed perceptual learnin g. It was predicted that PD patients would show implicit learning on the AG task but not the SRT task. as motor sequence learning is thought to be rel iant on the basal ganglia. which is damaged in PD. Patients with PD demonst rated implicit learning on both tasks. In light of these unexpected results the research on SRT learning in PD is reconsidered, and some possible expl anations for the sometimes conflicting results of PD patient samples on the SRT task are considered. Four factors which merit further study in this re gard are the degree to which the SRT task relies on overt motor responses, the effects of frontal lobe dysfunction upon implicit sequence learning, th e effects of cerebellar degeneration, and the degree to which the illness i tself has advanced. (C) 2001 Academic Press.