Deficit in implicit motor sequence learning among children and adolescents with spastic Cerebral Palsy

• Published in: Research in developmental disabilities Vol. 34; no. 11; pp. 3672 - 3678
• Main Authors: Gofer-Levi, Moran, Silberg, Tamar, Brezner, Amichai, Vakil, Eli
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier Ltd 01-11-2013; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adolescents; Biological and medical sciences; Case-Control Studies; Cerebral palsy; Cerebral Palsy (CP); Cerebral Palsy - complications; Cerebral Palsy - physiopathology; Child; Child Development - physiology; Children; Female; Headache. Facial pains. Syncopes. Epilepsia. Intracranial hypertension. Brain oedema. Cerebral palsy; Humans; Learning; Male; Medical sciences; Motor Skills - physiology; Motor Skills Disorders - complications; Motor Skills Disorders - physiopathology; Nervous system (semeiology, syndromes); Neurology; Psychomotor Performance - physiology; Reaction Time; Sequence learning; Sequences; Serial Learning - physiology; Serial reaction time (SRT) task; Skill learning (SL); Task performance; Young Adult; Skill learning (SL); Serial reaction time (SRT) task; Cerebral Palsy (CP); Sequence learning; Human; Cerebral palsy; Nervous system diseases; Cognition; Developmental disorder; Motor learning; Cerebral disorder; Skill; Acquisition process; Serial learning; Central nervous system disease; Adolescent; Serial reaction time; Implicit learning; Motricity; Child
• ISSN: 0891-4222; 1873-3379
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ridd.2013.07.029

•Children with CP differ from TD children in performance on the SRT task.•Children with CP learn the explicit components of the SRT task as TD children but in a slower pace.•Children with CP do not learn the implicit sequence of the SRT task.•Implicit sequence learning among children with CP is not age dependent.•Implicit sequence learning is unrelated to the level of motor impairment in CP.
Skill learning (SL) is learning as a result of repeated exposure and practice, which encompasses independent explicit (response to instructions) and implicit (response to hidden regularities) processes. Little is known about the effects of developmental disorders, such as Cerebral Palsy (CP), on the ability to acquire new skills. We compared performance of CP and typically developing (TD) children and adolescents in completing the serial reaction time (SRT) task, which is a motor sequence learning task, and examined the impact of various factors on this performance as indicative of the ability to acquire motor skills. While both groups improved in performance, participants with CP were significantly slower than TD controls and did not learn the implicit sequence. Our results indicate that SL in children and adolescents with CP is qualitatively and quantitatively different than that of their peers. Understanding the unique aspects of SL in children and adolescents with CP might help plan appropriate and efficient interventions.