Learning Potential of Patients With Parkinson's Disease After Two Weeks of Targeted Touchscreen Training

Parkinson's disease (PD) is characterized by severe motor and non-motor symptoms, including upper limb dysfunction. Due to the degradation of dopaminergic neurons in the striatum, PD patients experience difficulties with motor learning and more specifically with the consolidation of motor memory. Recent work showed that intensive writing training improved writing skills in PD. Although consolidation effects were present, difficulties with retention were also still apparent. Besides impacting writing, manual dexterity deficits in PD can also affect the use of touchscreens. Researchers from our lab demonstrated that impairments were most pronounced in multi-direction sliding motions, indicating the need for training of these motor skills. Our lab demonstrated the classic difficulties with retention in PD after one session of training of a swipe and slide pattern on a tablet (SSP-task) as single task (ST), although immediate gains were demonstrated. Therefore, in this study the investigators will examine whether a two-week home-based training program of a tablet-based SSP-training program will lead to immediate and consolidated improvements that are retained in time. This program will combine ST and dual task (DT) training to provide variation during the training period, but also to increase the cognitive challenge during learning, thereby stimulation consolidation of learning. The primary aim of this study consists of investigating the learning effects after two weeks of targeted touchscreen training. Secondary, the investigators will examine whether these effects will also be retained after four weeks without practice and whether targeted training results in consolidated improvements, in terms of automaticity and transfer towards an untrained task. Given the objective recording of compliance to the training protocol, the investigators will explore the association between compliance rates and learning effects.

Inclusion Criteria:Diagnosis of Parkinson's disease based on the 'UK Brain Bank' criteriaHoehn and Yahr (H&Y) stage I-III, participants in H&Y stage I should have the right side as the most affected sideRight handed, or right-handed use of touchscreen devices.Exclusion Criteria:Cognitive decline (Mini Mental State Examination < 24)Comorbidities of the upper limb that could interfere with the study and are not caused by Parkinson's diseaseOther neurological disorders besides Parkinson's diseaseColor blindness as determined by the Ishihara test for color deficiency