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Abstract
Expiratory airflow control was examined by tracking tasks in 17 patients with cerebellar disorders and in 25 normal controls. Airflow rate was recorded by an aerometer and fed back visually on the computer screen. Tracking skills were assessed after training based on a ramp-and-hold tracking task. In addition, transfer of skills to a constant tracking task was assessed. The patients showed remarkable tracking deficits relative to the control subjects. The degree of their tracking impairment was less related to perceptual and acoustic measures of dysarthria than to clinical ataxia scores based on limb examinations. The patients were unable to improve their tracking skills over repetitive trials. Yet there was a significant training-related gain in the initiation of tracking tasks, which points to a specific impairment of the tracking process itself in cerebellar ataxia.