[Neural basis of procedural memory]

Procedural memory is acquired by trial and error. Our daily life is supported by a number of procedural memories such as those for riding bicycle, typing, reading words, etc. Procedural memory is divided into 3 types; motor, perceptual, and cognitive. Here, the author reviews the cognitive and neural basis of procedural memory according to these 3 types. It is reported that the basal ganglia or cerebellum dysfunction causes deficits in procedural memory. Compared with age-matched healthy participants, patients with Parkinson disease (PD), Huntington disease (HD) or spinocerebellar degeneration (SCD) show deterioration in improvements in motor-type procedural memory tasks. Previous neuroimaging studies have reported that motor-type procedural memory may be supported by multiple brain regions, including the frontal and parietal regions as well as the basal ganglia (cerebellum); this was found with a serial reaction time task (SRT task). Although 2 other types of procedural memory are also maintained by multiple brain regions, the related cerebral areas depend on the type of memory. For example, it was suggested that acquisition of the perceptual type of procedural memory (e.g., ability to read mirror images of words) might be maintained by the bilateral fusiform region, while the acquisition of cognitive procedural memory might be supported by the frontal, parietal, or cerebellar regions as well as the basal ganglia. In the future, we need to cleary understand the neural "network" related to the procedural memory.