More than just tapping: Index finger-tapping measures procedural learning in schizophrenia

SCHIZOPHRENIA RESEARCH

卷:137

Article

Da Silva, Felipe N.¹  Irani, Farzin¹  Richard, Jan¹  Brensinger, Colleen M.²  Bilker, Warren B.²  Gur, Raquel E.¹  Gur, Ruben C.^1,3 

[1] Univ Penn, Perelman Sch Med, Brain Behav Lab, Sect Neuropsychiat,Dept Psychiat, Philadelphia, PA 19104 USA

[2] Univ Penn, Dept Biostat, Philadelphia, PA 19104 USA

[3] Philadelphia Vet Adm Med Ctr, Philadelphia, PA 19104 USA

关键词: Schizophrenia;    Procedural learning;    Finger-tapping;    Motor function;    Sensorimotor function;    Handedness;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.schres.2012.01.018

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Background: Finger-tapping has been widely studied using behavioral and neuroimaging paradigms. Evidence supports the use of finger-tapping as an endophenotype in schizophrenia, but its relationship with motor procedural learning remains unexplored. To our knowledge, this study presents the first use of index finger-tapping to study procedural learning in individuals with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder (SCZ/SZA) as compared to healthy controls. Methods: A computerized index finger-tapping test was administered to 1169 SCZ/SZA patients (62% male, 88% right-handed), and 689 healthy controls (40% male, 93% right-handed). Number of taps per trial and learning slopes across trials for the dominant and non-dominant hands were examined for motor speed and procedural learning, respectively. Results: Both healthy controls and SCZ/SZA patients demonstrated procedural learning for their dominant hand but not for their non-dominant hand. In addition, patients showed a greater capacity for procedural learning even though they demonstrated more variability in procedural learning compared to healthy controls. Left-handers of both groups performed better than right-handers and had less variability in mean number of taps between non-dominant and dominant hands. Males also had less variability in mean tap count between dominant and non-dominant hands than females. As expected, patients had a lower mean number of taps than healthy controls, males outperformed females and dominant-hand trials had more mean taps than non-dominant hand trials in both groups. Conclusions: The index finger-tapping test can measure both motor speed and procedural learning, and motor procedural learning may be intact in SCZ/SZA patients. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

【 授权许可】

Free