ABSTRACT
Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most widespread disabling neurological condition in young adults around the world. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of explicit information (EI) on motor-sequence learning in MS patients. Methods: Thirty patients with relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS), age: 29.5 (SD = 5.6) years and 30 healthy gender-, age-, and education-matched control group participants, age: 28.8 (SD = 6.0) years, were recruited for this study. The participants in the healthy group were then randomly assigned into an EI (n = 15) group and a no-EI (n = 15) group. Similarly, the participants in the control group were then randomly assigned into EI (n = 15) and no-EI (n = 15) groups. The participants performed a serial reaction time (SRT) task and reaction times. A retention test was performed after 48 hours. Results: All participants reduced their reaction times across acquisition (MS group: 46.4 (SD = 3.3) minutes, P < 0.001, and healthy group: 39.4 (SD = 3.3) minutes, P < 0.001). The findings for the within-participants effect of repeated measures of time were significant (F(5.06, 283.7) = 71.33. P < 0.001). These results indicate that the interaction between group and time was significant (F(5.06, 283.7) = 6.44. P < 0.001), which indicated that the reaction time in both groups was significantly changed between the MS and healthy groups across times (B1 to B10). The main effect of the group (MS and healthy) (F(1, 56) = 22.78. P < 0.001) and also the main effect of no-EI vs EI (F(1, 56) = 4.71. P < 0.001) were significant.Conclusion: This study demonstrated that that RRMS patients are capable of learning new skills, but the provision of EI prior to physical practice is deleterious to implicit learning. It is sufficient to educate MS patients on the aim and general content of the training and only to provide feedback at the end of the rehabilitative session.
ABSTRACT
Introduction: Motor skills play an important role during life span, and older adults need to learn or relearn these skills. The purpose of this study was to investigate how aging affects induction of improved movement performance by motor training
Methods: Serial Reaction Time Test [SRTT] was used to assess movement performance during 8 blocks of motor training. Participants were tested in two separate dates, 48 hours apart. First session included 8 blocks of training [blocks 1-8] and second session comprised 2 blocks [blocks 9, 10]
Results: Analyses of data showed that reaction times in both online and offline learning were significantly shorter in older adults compared to younger adults [P<0.001]. Young adults demonstrated both online and offline learning [P<0.001], but older adults only showed online learning [P<0.001] without offline learning [P=0.24]
Discussion: The result of the current study provides evidence that the healthy older adults are able to improve their performance with practice and learn motor skill successfully in the form of online learning