Motor Memory Consolidation Deficits in Parkinson's Disease: A Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis

The ability to encode and consolidate motor memories is essential for persons with Parkinson's disease (PD), who usually experience a progressive loss of motor function. Deficits in memory encoding, usually expressed as poorer rates of skill improvement during motor practice, have been reported in these patients. Whether motor memory consolidation (i.e., motor skill retention) is also impaired is unknown.

To determine whether motor memory consolidation is impaired in PD compared to neurologically intact individuals.

We conducted a pre-registered systematic review (PROSPERO: CRD42020222433) following PRISMA guidelines that included 46 studies.

Meta-analyses revealed that persons with PD have deficits in retaining motor skills (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, deficits became non-significant when augmented feedback during practice was provided, and additional motor practice sessions reduced deficits in sensory motor tasks. Meta-regression analyses confirmed that deficits were independent of performance during encoding, as well as disease duration and severity.

Our results align with the neurodegenerative models of PD progression and motor learning frameworks and emphasize the importance of developing targeted interventions to enhance motor memory consolidation in PD.