Task-specific contribution of the human striatum to perceptual–motor skill learning

Abstract

Acquisition of new perceptual–motor skills depends on multiple brain areas, including the striatum. However, the specific contribution of each structure to this type of learning is still poorly understood. Focusing on the striatum, we proposed (a) to replicate the finding of impaired rotary pursuit (RP) and preserved mirror tracing (MT) in Huntington's disease (HD); and (b) to further explore this putative learning dissociation with other human models of striatal dysfunction (i.e., Parkinson's disease and focal vascular damage) and two new paradigms (i.e., Geometric Figures, GF, and Control Stick, CS) of skill learning. Regardless of the etiology, participants with damage to the striatum showed impaired learning of visuomotor tracking skills (i.e., RP and GF), whereas the ability to learn skills that require motor adaptation (i.e., MT and CS) was not affected. These results suggest a task-specific involvement of the striatum in the early stages of skill learning.

Keywords:

• Nondeclarative memory
• Skill learning
• Striatum
• Huntington's disease
• Parkinson's disease

Joana Damásio, Filomena Gomes, and Alexandra Gonçalves contributed to the acquisition of data. The research was funded by National Institutes of Health (NIH) PO1 NS19632 and Bial Foundation Grant 03/02.