Objective: Deepening knowledge of retrograde procedural memory (RPM) in typical Parkinson’s Disease (PD) patients to demonstrate that RPM is impaired in patients with PD.

Background: Memory impairment has only lately been recognized as a central clinical feature of PD. Since we know that PD is characterized by striatal impairment and that the striatum plays a central role in procedural memory learning, it is important deepening our knowledge of this memory concept.
Actions such as playing the piano or tying one’s shoes rely on the procedural learning and its automation, called procedural memory. Procedural memory can be divided into (i) the anterograde procedural memory (APM), which comprises the learning of new skills and (ii) the retrograde procedural memory (RPM), which is defined by the ability to execute prior learned procedural skills. There is evidence that the APM may already be affected in early PD stages. However, to our knowledge, the retrograde form has not been studied in PD before. We hypothesized that also RPM would be impaired in patients with PD.

Method: We proposed a novel strategy to analyze the RPM in PD: using a tool to study this form of memory that is easy to administer and not complicated by motor symptoms such as muscle rigidity and tremor prevalent in PD. We refined the assessment of the Necker Cube and have designed a new rating system to analyze the cube production process, separating the procedural and the visuo-constructive aspects.

Results: A total of 467 participants of the Luxembourg Parkinson’s Study were assessed using the tool described above. By comparing the performance of patients with typical PD with that of control subjects, we were able to observe that this form of memory is indeed affected in patients with PD.

Conclusion: Our study, in an innovative manner, fills the knowledge gap of the procedural memory in PD. Whether RPM deficits can serve as diagnostic marker in early disease stage or may even be observed in prodromal PD, remains to be determined.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/exploring-the-role-of-the-retrograde-procedural-memory-in-pd-in-the-luxembourg-parkinsons-disease-study/