Procedural memory: Difference between revisions

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==Tests==

===Pursuit rotor task===

A device used to study visual-motor tracking skills and [[hand–eye coordination]] by requiring the participant to follow a moving object with a [[cursor (computers)|cursor]]<ref name="Cognitive Atlas">{{Cite web | url=http://www.cognitiveatlas.org | title=Cognitive Atlas}}</ref> or use a [[stylus]] to follow the target on a computer screen or a turntable.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://149.142.158.188/phenowiki/wiki/index.php/Pursuit_Rotor_Task |title=Pursuit Rotor Task - Phenowiki |access-date=27 February 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927220537/http://149.142.158.188/phenowiki/wiki/index.php/Pursuit_Rotor_Task |archive-date=27 September 2013 }}</ref> With the computer screen version, the participant follows a dot on a circular path like the one shown below.<ref>{{Cite web | url=httphttps://peblblog.blogspot.com/2010/04/pursuit-rotor-task.html | title=PEBL Blog: The Pursuit Rotor Task| date=24 April 2010}}</ref> [[File:PursuitRotor.png|thumb|Screenshot of a computerized version of the pursuit rotor task.]]

The pursuit rotor task is a simple pure visual-motor tracking test that has consistent results within age groups.<ref name="Lang">{{cite journal | doi=10.1016/0191-8869(81)90025-8 | volume=2 | issue=3 | title=Learning and reminiscence in the pursuit rotor performance of normal and depressed subjects | journal=Personality and Individual Differences | pages=207–213 | year=1981 | last1 = Lang | first1 = Rudie J.}}</ref> This displays a measurement of procedural memory as well as demonstrates the participant's [[fine motor skill]]s. The pursuit rotor task tests the fine-motor skills which are controlled by the motor cortex illustrated by the green section below. [[File:Cerebral lobes.png|thumb]]<ref name="Allen">{{cite journal | last1 = Allen | first1 = J.S. | last2 = Anderson | first2 = S.W. | last3 = Castro-Caldas | first3 = A. | last4 = Cavaco | first4 = S. | last5 = Damasio | first5 = H. | year = 2004 | title = The scope of preserved procedural memory in amnesia | journal = Brain | volume = 127 | issue = 8| pages = 1853–67 | doi = 10.1093/brain/awh208 | pmid = 15215216 | doi-access = free | hdl = 10400.16/509 | hdl-access = free }}</ref> The results are then calculated by the participant's time-on and time-off the object. Amnesic participants show no impairment in this motor task when tested at later trials. It does however seem to be affected by lack of sleep and drug use.<ref name="Dotto">{{cite journal | last1 = Dotto | first1 = L | year = 1996 | title = Sleep Stages, Memory and Learning | journal = Canadian Medical Association Journal | volume = 154 | issue = 8| pages = 1193–6 | pmid = 8612256 | pmc = 1487644 }}</ref>

===Serial reaction time task===

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{{further|topic=the cerebellum|Cerebellum}}

[[File:Cerebellum.png|thumb|right|The cerebellum is highlighted red]]

The [[cerebellum]] is known to play a part in correcting movement and in fine-tuning the motor agility found in procedural skills such as painting, instrument playing and in sports such as golf. Damage to this area may prevent the proper relearning of motor skills and through associated research it has more recently been linked to having a role in automating the unconscious process used when learning a procedural skill.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Saywell | first1 = N | last2 = Taylor | first2 = D | date = Oct 2008 | title = The role of the cerebellum in procedural learning – are there implications for physiotherapists' clinical practice?. | journal = Physiotherapy: Theory and Practice | volume = 24 | issue = 5| pages = 321–8 | doi=10.1080/09593980701884832| pmid = 18821439 | s2cid = 205654506 }}</ref> New thoughts in the scientific community suggest that the cerebellar cortex holds the holy grail of memory, what is known to researchers as "the [[theEngram (neuropsychology)|engram]]" or the biological place where memory lives. The initial memory trace is thought to form here between parallel fibers and [[Purkinje cells|Purkinje cell]] and then travel outwards to other cerebellar nuclei for consolidation.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Nagao | first1 = S | last2 = Kitazawa | first2 = H | year = 2008 | title = Role of the cerebellum in the acquisition and consolidation of motor memory | journal = Brain Nerve | volume = 60 | issue = 7| pages = 783–90 | pmid = 18646618 }}</ref>

===Limbic system===

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{{further|topic=Huntington's disease|Huntington's disease}}

[[File:Huntington.jpg|thumb|left|Coronal FSPGR through the brain of Huntington's patient]]

Despite [[Huntington's disease]] being a disorder that directly affects striatal areas of the brain used in procedural memory, most individuals with the condistioncondition display different memory problems from people with striatum related brain diseases.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Sprengelmeyer | first1 = R | last2 = Canavan | first2 = AG | last3 = Lange | first3 = HW | last4 = Hömberg | first4 = V | date = Jan 1995 | title = Associative learning in degenerative neostriatal disorders: contrasts in explicit and implicit remembering between Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases | journal = Mov Disord | volume = 10 | issue = 1| pages = 51–65 | doi=10.1002/mds.870100110| pmid = 7885356 | s2cid = 38578307 }}</ref> In more advanced stages of the disease, however, procedural memory is affected by damage to the important brain pathways that help the inner subcortical and prefrontal cortex parts of the brain to communicate.<ref>Saint-Cyr JA, Taylor AE, Lang AE. (1988) "Procedural learning and neostriatal dysfunction in man" ''Brain'' 1988 Aug;111 ( Pt 4):941-59.</ref>

===Obsessive compulsive disorder===

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===Schizophrenia===

{{further|topic=schizophrenia|Schizophrenia}}

MRI studies have shown that [[schizophrenic]] patients not currently taking related medication have a smaller [[putamen;]], part of the striatum that plays a very important role in procedural memory.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Lang | first1 = DJ | last2 = Kopala | last3 = Smith | first3 = GN | display-authors = etal | year = 1999 | title = MRI study of basal ganglia volumes in drug-naive first-episode patients with schizophrenia | journal = Schizophr Res | volume = 36 | page = 202 }}</ref> Further studies on the brain reveal that schizophrenics have improper basal ganglia communication with the surrounding extrapyramidal system that is known to be closely involved with the motor system and in the coordination of movement.<ref>A Chatterjee, M Chakos, A Koreen, S Geisler, B Sheitman, M Woerner, JM Kane J Alvir and Ja (1995). "Prevalence and clinical correlates of extrapyramidal signs and spontaneous dyskinesia in never-medicated schizophrenic patients" ''Am J Psychiatry'' 1995 Dec; 152 (12); 1724-9.</ref> The most recent belief is that functional problems in the striatum of schizophrenic patients are not significant enough to seriously impair procedural learning, however, research shows that the impairment will be significant enough to cause problems improving performance on a task between practice intervals.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Schérer | first1 = H | last2 = Stip | first2 = E | last3 = Paquet | first3 = F | last4 = Bédard | first4 = MA | date =Winter 2003 | title = Mild procedural learning disturbances in neuroleptic-naive patients with schizophrenia | journal = Journal of Neuropsychiatry| volume = 15 | issue = 1| pages = 58–63 | doi=10.1176/appi.neuropsych.15.1.58| pmid = 12556572 }}</ref>

==Drugs==