Motor Skill Retention Impairments in Parkinson’s Disease: A Systematic Review with Meta-analysis

The ability to acquire and retain motor skills is essential for persons with Parkinson’s Disease (PD), who usually experience a progressive loss of mobility during the disease. Deficits in the rate of motor skill acquisition have been previously reported in these patients. Whether motor skill retention is also impaired is currently not known. We conducted a review that included 46 studies to determine whether, compared with neurologically intact individuals, motor skill retention is impaired in PD. Meta-analyses revealed that, following a single practice session, persons with PD have deficits in skill retention (SMD = −0.17; 95% CI = −0.32, −0.02;p= 0.0225). However, these deficits are task-specific, affecting sensory motor (SMD = −0.31; 95% CI −0.47, −0.15;p= 0.0002) and visuomotor adaptation (SMD = − 1.55; 95% CI = −2.32, −0.79;p= 0.0001) tasks, but not sequential fine motor (SMD = 0.17; 95% CI = −0.05, 0.39;p= 0.1292) and gross motor tasks (SMD = 0.04; 95% CI = −0.25, 0.33;p= 0.7771). Importantly, retention deficits became non-significant when augmented feedback during practice was provided. Similarly, additional sessions of motor practice restored the deficits observed in sensory motor tasks. Meta-regression analyses confirmed that retention deficits were independent of performance during motor skill acquisition, as well as the duration and severity of the disease. These results are in line with prominent neurodegenerative models of PD progression and emphasize the importance of developing targeted interventions to enhance motor memory processes supporting the retention of motor skills in people with PD.