Objective: To investigate the effects of dual (DT) versus single task (ST) training of touchscreen skills in Parkinson’s disease patients (PD) and healthy elderly (HE).

Background: Manual dexterity deficits and loss of motor automaticity impair touchscreen use in PD, but the effects of touchscreen training are unknown. It is also unclear whether DT-training is more beneficial than ST-practice for the improvement and maintenance of touchscreen skills in HE and PD.

Method: Eight PD patients (data collection ongoing) OFF-medication (H&Y II, age 68±5) and 24 HE (age 68±5) with similar MoCA scores (p=0.573) were randomized in ST (n = 3 PD, 11 HE) and DT (n = 5 PD, 13 HE) training arms. All participants trained the Swipe-Slide Pattern (SSP) task on a tablet in either ST or DT condition. The SSP-task consisted of tracing a pattern with the index finger of the right hand as if to unlock the touchscreen of the tablet. The secondary task consisted of counting either red or green dots shown on the screen. SSP-duration (primary outcome) and the time to enter a telephone number on a mobile phone (MPT) (transfer task) were assessed pre and post a first training session during MRI (pre, post 1), after training independently at home for four days (post 2) and after a follow-up period of 2 days without training (retention). To examine the effects of training, a mixed model ANOVA was used, with TIME (pre, post 1, post 2, retention) as within-subject factor and TRAINING (ST, DT) and GROUP (PD, HC) as between-subject factors.

Results: Significant main effects of time (F(2;54)=38.2, p<0.001) and group (F(1;28)=9.1, p=0.005) on SSP-duration were found. A significant interaction effect of TIME x TRAINING (F(2;54)=3.77, p=0.030) was also revealed. Although the SSP was performed faster at each time point compared to pre in both PD-OFF and HE, improvements were more pronounced after ST compared to DT training.  Also, a significant main effect of time for the untrained MPT was apparent (F(3;81)=8.1, p<0.001) with faster performance at post 1 and retention compared to pre.

Conclusion: Both ST and DT training improved touchscreen task performance which transferred to an untrained daily life task (MPT), though ST training yielded superior results. Encouragingly, PD-OFF progressed to a similar degree as HE with equal benefits at retention. These preliminary results show that touchscreen training is a promising therapeutic strategy for people with PD.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/targeted-training-improves-touchscreen-skills-in-parkinsons-disease-and-healthy-elderly/