Procedural memory: Difference between revisions

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Procedural memory is created through ''procedural learning'', or repeating a complex activity over and over again until all of the relevant [[Neural pathway|neural system]]s work together to automatically produce the activity. Implicit procedural learning is essential for the development of any motor skill or cognitive activity.

Procedural memory is much more resistant to completely forgetting than other forms of memory. Certain skills such as riding a bike, driving a car, and typing on a keyboard are generally maintained for the duration of one's lifetime once learned effectively. Other skills, such as swimming or playing an instrument, can result in a noticeable level of decline without regular practice but are still not completely forgotten and can generally be regained with adequate effort at a rate much faster than when one is just beginning.

==History==

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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>

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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===