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Background: There is a growing body of literature that suggests that motor learning may be indicative of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's disease (AD). For example, motor learning may provide unique information for enriching clinical trials in MCI and AD if it is related to biomarkers of interest. The current study sought to examine motor learning patterns relative to amyloid deposition in the brain. Method: One hundred fifty‐four older adults who were cognitively intact or had amnestic MCI or mild AD participated. Each participant completed a motor learning task that consisted of six trials of moving beans with a spoon between three cups, and the total time to complete the task was measured. This task was repeated at two additional visits, about one week and one year later. Each participant also completed an amyloid positron emission tomography (PET) scan within a month of the motor testing. Based on FDA‐approved prescribing and visual interpretation information, the amyloid PET scan was classified as positive (n = 94) or negative (n = 60). A second repeated‐measures analysis examined trial one at the initial, one‐week, and one‐year visits to look for between‐session changes based on amyloid status. Result: Within the initial visit, both groups significantly improved their response time on this motor learning task across the six trials (p<0.001) and those classified as amyloid negative performed significantly faster than their amyloid positive peers (p = 0.01). However, there was no significant time by amyloid status interaction (p = 0.92). Like in the within‐session results, there were main effects of time (p<0.001) and amyloid status (p = 0.003), but there was not a significant interaction of the two (p = 0.37). Conclusion: Older individuals who are amyloid positive performed worse on this motor learning task than their amyloid negative peers, both within the same session and between sessions. Additionally, notable learning was present in both groups within the same session, but this was somewhat reduced in the amyloid positive individuals across sessions. Even though there was no clear interaction between time and amyloid status, motor learning tasks may provide unique information in identifying individuals for clinical trials who are more likely to be amyloid positive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Generalizing learned information from one motor task to another is critical for effective motor rehabilitation. A recent study demonstrated age-related declines in motor skill transfer, yet findings from other motor learning studies suggest that visuospatial impairments may explain such aging effects. Aims: The purpose of this secondary analysis was to test whether age-related deficits in motor skill transfer were related to low visuospatial ability. Methods: Forty-two participants (mean ± SD age: 72.1 ± 9.9 years) were tested on an upper extremity dexterity task before and after 3 days of training on an upper extremity reaching task. Training and control data have been published previously. Prior to training, global cognitive status and specific cognitive domains (visuospatial/executive, attention, and delayed memory) were evaluated using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment. Results: Backward-stepwise linear regression indicated that the Visuospatial/Executive subtest was related to motor skill transfer (i.e., the amount of change in performance on the untrained motor task), such that participants with higher visuospatial scores improved more on the untrained dexterity task than those with lower scores. Global cognitive status was unrelated to motor skill transfer. Discussion: Consistent with previous studies showing a positive relationship between visuospatial function and other aspects of motor learning, this secondary analysis indicates that less motor skill transfer among older adults may indeed be due to declines in visuospatial function. Conclusions: The present study highlights the potential utility of assessing older patients' visuospatial ability within motor rehabilitation to provide valuable insight into the extent to which they may learn and generalize motor skills through training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Supplemental Digital Content is Available in the Text. Background and Purpose: Skill acquisition (ie, performance changes during practice) occurs in a nonlinear fashion. Despite this, motor learning is typically measured by comparing discrete timepoints. Thus, typical measures of motor learning do not detect skill acquisition characteristics that may be clinically meaningful. Reliable prediction of motor skill learning in people with Parkinson disease (PD) would allow therapists to more effectively individualize practice doses to fit specific patients' needs. The purposes of this study were to (a) characterize postural skill acquisition in people with PD, and identify factors (such as acquisition rate and practice dose to plateau) that predict learning, and (b) investigate whether levodopa medication (l -dopa) status during practice impacted learning. Methods: Twenty-seven adults with PD practiced a postural motor task over 3 days, followed by 2 retention tests. Participants were randomized to practice either ON or OFF l -dopa. Data for repeating and random sequences were each analyzed using nonlinear curve-fitting and mixed-effects regressions. Learning was defined as pretest minus retention test performance. Results: Participants with less physical impairment demonstrated less learning on the repeating and random sequence tasks compared with participants with more impairment. Participants who improved faster during practice demonstrated less learning on the repeating sequence task compared with participants who improved more slowly. Reaching plateau during practice was not related to learning. l -dopa did not impair learning. Discussion and Conclusions: Participants' skill acquisition characteristics were related to learning a postural motor task. Patient-specific factors, such as the rate of skill acquisition, level of physical function, and medication status, may influence how postural motor practice is delivered during balance rehabilitation. Video Abstract available for more insights from the authors (see the Video, Supplemental Digital Content 1, available at: http://links.lww.com/JNPT/A250). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Jebsen Hand Function Test (JHFT) is a standardized assessment that has been used as a clinical outcome measure. To appropriately interpret the effects of an intervention on hand function (as measured by the JHFT), the extent to which this instrument shows significant practice effects must be quantified. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the JHFT is susceptible to within-session practice effects. The results showed that the dominant and nondominant hands significantly improved on the JHFT and many of its subtests over six consecutive trials. Although practice effects might complicate the interpretation of change due to intervention, we briefly relate our findings to emerging neuropsychological evidence that practice effects may indicate a person's motor learning potential or treatment responsiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on an introspective approach used for studying the Upper Extremity (UE) after a heart attack. It discusses several assessments, which evaluated the presence and severity of UE impairments using the UE and considered was the limb used during activities in daily life (ADLs). It suggests using accelerometry method, which distinguishes UE use between individuals with and without stroke which assist in clinical decision making in the stroke rehabilitation services.