Department of Neurology, Showa University School of Medicine, Tokyo, 142-8666, Japan.
Exp Brain Res. 2010 Apr;202(1):147-53. doi: 10.1007/s00221-009-2119-4. Epub 2009 Dec 18.
A 2 x 8 button-press task is a sequential hand movement task in which subjects are required to press eight pairs of buttons as accurately and quickly as possible. The 2 x 8 task allows us to examine flexible sequential learning, more aptly called sequence-unselective learning. Sequence-unselective learning is observed after repeated experiences with the task, when subjects have shown good progress in learning, with new sequences as well as previously learned ones. Although cognitive inflexibility has been reported in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), there have been few studies investigating their flexibility in sequential learning. We examined PD patients' ability for sequence-unselective learning through the use of a 2 x 8 button-press task. In the first session, PD patients and subjects from the control group performed a sequential 2 x 8 task until the learning criterion was fulfilled (Session 1). After 1 month, they participated in other sessions: one involving the learned sequence (Session 2) and another involving the new sequence (Session 3). We found that PD patients made more errors than the normal control subjects only when learning the new sequence (Session 3) (P < 0.01). In Session 3, control subjects reached the learning target with fewer errors than in the Session 1 (normal sequence-unselective learning), whereas the PD patients did not exhibit such an improvement. Our results revealed a sequence-unselective deficit in PD patients. The deficit may help to emphasize the cognitive and physical inflexibility of PD.
2 x 8 按钮按压任务是一种顺序手部运动任务，要求受试者尽可能准确和快速地按下 8 对按钮。2 x 8 任务使我们能够检查灵活的顺序学习，更准确地称为序列非选择性学习。在重复体验任务后，观察到序列非选择性学习，当受试者在学习方面取得良好进展时，无论是新序列还是之前学习过的序列。尽管帕金森病（PD）患者的认知灵活性较差，但很少有研究调查他们在序列学习中的灵活性。我们通过使用 2 x 8 按钮按压任务来检查 PD 患者的序列非选择性学习能力。在第一会话中，PD 患者和对照组受试者执行顺序 2 x 8 任务，直到达到学习标准（第 1 会话）。一个月后，他们参加了其他会话：一个涉及学习序列（第 2 会话），另一个涉及新序列（第 3 会话）。我们发现，只有在学习新序列（第 3 会话）时，PD 患者的错误比正常对照组受试者更多（P <0.01）。在第 3 会话中，对照组受试者的错误比第 1 会话（正常序列非选择性学习）少，达到学习目标，而 PD 患者则没有表现出这种改善。我们的结果揭示了 PD 患者的序列非选择性缺陷。这种缺陷可能有助于强调 PD 的认知和身体灵活性不足。
