Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Physiotherapy, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran
  • 2 Department of Neurology, MS Research Unit, Shahed University, Tehran, Iran
  • 3 Neuromuscular Rehabilitation Research Center, Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Semnan, Iran
  • 4 Department of Sport and Movement Studies, University of Johannesburg, Doornfontein, Johannesburg, Republic of South Africa
  • 5 Department of Occupational Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia
  • 6 Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Faculty of Public Health, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran
  • 7 University of Malaya Centre of Addiction Sciences (UMCAS), Malaysia
  • 8 School of Physiotherapy, Otago University, Dunedin, New Zealand
Malays J Med Sci, 2017 Mar;24(1):69-80.
PMID: 28381930 DOI: 10.21315/mjms2017.24.1.8

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most widespread disabling neurological condition in young adults around the world. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of explicit information (EI) on motor-sequence learning in MS patients.

METHODS: Thirty patients with relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS), age: 29.5 (SD = 5.6) years and 30 healthy gender-, age-, and education-matched control group participants, age: 28.8 (SD = 6.0) years, were recruited for this study. The participants in the healthy group were then randomly assigned into an EI (n = 15) group and a no-EI (n = 15) group. Similarly, the participants in the control group were then randomly assigned into EI (n = 15) and no-EI (n = 15) groups. The participants performed a serial reaction time (SRT) task and reaction times. A retention test was performed after 48 hours.

RESULTS: All participants reduced their reaction times across acquisition (MS group: 46.4 (SD = 3.3) minutes, P < 0.001, and healthy group: 39.4 (SD = 3.3) minutes, P < 0.001). The findings for the within-participants effect of repeated measures of time were significant (F(5.06, 283.7) = 71.33. P < 0.001). These results indicate that the interaction between group and time was significant (F(5.06, 283.7) = 6.44. P < 0.001), which indicated that the reaction time in both groups was significantly changed between the MS and healthy groups across times (B1 to B10). The main effect of the group (MS and healthy) (F(1, 56) = 22.78. P < 0.001) and also the main effect of no-EI vs EI (F(1, 56) = 4.71. P < 0.001) were significant.

CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated that that RRMS patients are capable of learning new skills, but the provision of EI prior to physical practice is deleterious to implicit learning. It is sufficient to educate MS patients on the aim and general content of the training and only to provide feedback at the end of the rehabilitative session.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.