Biomedical subjects

Steve W Kelly

Publications and source records attributed to Steve W Kelly.

2 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2004

Learning of ambiguous versus hybrid sequences by patients with Parkinson's disease.

Implicit motor learning as indexed by the serial reaction time (SRT) task has been shown to be impaired in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). This has only been conclusively demonstrated for sequences that require learning of second-order sequential information (ambiguous sequences). This study examines implicit learning of ambiguous sequences as well as sequences which contain first-order information (hybrid sequences) in a sample of 12 early to middle stage Parkinson's disease patients and matched controls. The study used dual-task methodology in order to prevent strategic/attentional learning of second-order information. The results showed that while ambiguous sequences were not learned by either group, both patient and control groups demonstrated learning of the hybrid sequence under dual-task conditions. This suggests that first-order associations may be learned by people with Parkinson's disease, even under attentionally demanding conditions. This may be interpreted as providing evidence for a non-attentional learning mechanism which is relatively intact in Parkinson's disease.

Aged↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Evidence for implicit sequence learning in dyslexia.

Nicolson and Fawcett (Cognition 1990; 35: 159-182) have suggested that a deficit in the automatization of skill learning could account for the general impairments found in dyslexia. Much of the evidence for their claims has been collected via a dual task paradigm, which might allow for alternative explanations of the data. The present study examines automatic skill learning in a single task paradigm and extends previous studies by independently examining the contribution of stimulus-based and response-based learning. The task replicates Mayr's (J. Exp. Psychol.: Learning Memory Cognition 1996; 22: 350-364) methodology in the Serial Reaction Time task by exposing participants to two structured displays, simultaneously. Learning is measured by comparing RT to the learned sequence against RT to a random display. This study demonstrates learning for both dyslexic and control groups for a spatial sequence which was observed and a concurrent non-spatial sequence which was responded to via a keypress. Learning of the sequence did not seem to depend on awareness of the sequence structure. These results suggest that automatic skill learning is intact in dyslexic individuals.

Adult↗