Effect of focal cerebellar lesions on procedural learning in the serial reaction time task

Prior studies have shown that procedural learning is severely impaired in patients with diffuse cerebellar damage (cortical degeneration) as measured by the serial reaction time task (SRTT). We hypothesize that focal cerebellar lesions can also have lateralized effects on procedural learning. Our ob...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Experimental brain research 1998-05, Vol.120 (1), p.25-30
Main Authors: GOMEZ-BELDARRAIN, M, GARCIA-MONCO, J. C, RUBIO, B, PASCUAL-LEONE, A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Aged
Analysis of Variance
Anatomical correlates of behavior
Behavioral psychophysiology
Biological and medical sciences
Case-Control Studies
Cerebellar Diseases - pathology
Chronic Disease
Comparative analysis
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Humans
Learning - physiology
Male
Medical research
Medicine, Experimental
Memory
Middle Aged
Nerve Degeneration - physiopathology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Psychomotor Performance - physiology
Reaction Time - physiology
Reproducibility of Results
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Summary:Prior studies have shown that procedural learning is severely impaired in patients with diffuse cerebellar damage (cortical degeneration) as measured by the serial reaction time task (SRTT). We hypothesize that focal cerebellar lesions can also have lateralized effects on procedural learning. Our objective was to assess the effects of focal cerebellar lesions in procedural learning as measured by the SRTT. We studied 14 patients with single, unilateral vascular lesions in the territory of the posterior-inferior or superior cerebellar artery, who were compared with ten age- and sex-matched controls in a one-handed version of the SRTT. Patients with lesions at any other level of the brain or posterior fossa were excluded by cranial magnetic resonance imaging. Our results show that patients do not acquire procedural knowledge when performing the task with the hand ipsilateral to the lesion, but show normal learning with the contralateral hand. No correlation was found with the side, size, or vascular territory of the lesion. We conclude that procedural learning is impaired in hemispheric cerebellar lesions and involves only the hand ipsilateral to the lesion, which suggests a critical role for the cerebellum and/or crossed cerebellar-prefrontal connections in this type of learning.
ISSN:0014-4819
1432-1106
DOI:10.1007/s002210050374