Learning of a postural control task in a virtual environment with Parkinson´s disease individuals

BACKGROUND: Recent studies have shown individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD) are able to learn tasks with postural control demand, however, they need more practice, more sensory information, and extrinsic feedback for this improvement. These aspects could be provided by task performance on virtual environment. In addition, the retention interval found in these studies was short.   AIM: To investigate the extent to which the learning of tasks involving a high demand for postural control is impacted in individuals with PD, and to determine the impact of the learning process on both cognition and postural control. METHOD: The Experimental Group comprised 13 participants with PD and the Control Group comprises 14 healthy elderly. Participants took part in 13 one-hour sessions, which involved four Kinect system games, with high postural and cognitive demands. The short-term retention test was performed one week after the post-test, whereas the long-term retention test was performed one month after the post-test. RESULTS: Individuals with PD learned the tasks with a high demand of postural control and demonstrated both short and long-term retention. The skill learning of the four tasks led to an improvement in cognitive functions specifically in memory. There was an improvement of reactive aspects of postural control in the elderly and with the individuals with PD, also better gait stability in the elderly. CONCLUSION:Despite the degeneration in striatum, responsible of consolidation of motor learning, individuals with PD are able to learn motor skills with a high demand for postural control, retaining them in the long term.