Apraxia and motor-skill acquisition in Alzheimer's disease are dissociable

• Published in: Neuropsychologia 1999-06, Vol.37 (7), p.875-880
• Main Authors: JACOBS, D. H, ADAIR, J. C, WILLIAMSON, D. J. G, NA, D. L, GOLD, M, FOUNDAS, A. L, SHUREN, J. E, CIBULA, J. E, HEILMAN, K. M
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aged; Alzheimer Disease - complications; Alzheimer Disease - physiopathology; Alzheimer Disease - psychology; Apraxias - etiology; Apraxias - physiopathology; Apraxias - psychology; Biological and medical sciences; Case-Control Studies; Degenerative and inherited degenerative diseases of the nervous system. Leukodystrophies. Prion diseases; Female; Geriatrics; Humans; Learning; Male; Medical sciences; Motor Skills; Neurology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychomotor Performance; Psychopathology. Psychiatry
• ISSN: 0028-3932; 1873-3514
• DOI: 10.1016/S0028-3932(98)00139-0

Many patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) are apraxic and the apraxia has been posited to be related to a loss of movement representations. Whereas patients with Alzheimer's disease have been reported to demonstrate normal motor learning on a rotor pursuit skill acquisition task, it is unknown whether AD subjects who are apraxic demonstrate normal skill-learning. We tested subjects with probable AD and normal controls on a rotor pursuit task. We also tested the AD subjects for ideomotor apraxia. Subjects with AD who were apraxic had normal motor learning. In addition, praxis score did not correlate with performance on the skill-acquisition task. The results suggest that ideomotor praxis and motor learning are at least partly dissociable.