Comparing Implicit Motor Learning in Older Adults With and Without Task Instructions

• Sarah Rata, Exercise Science, University of Delaware
• Soumya Bhat, , University of Delaware

• Susanne Morton, , University of Delaware

Acquiring new movement behaviors (i.e., motor learning) can be accomplished primarily through two main processes: implicit and explicit learning. Explicit learning is accomplished via conscious effort and movement strategy, whereas implicit learning is a subconscious and automatic process. Most motor learning is accomplished with a combination of both explicit and implicit processes. Little is known about the factors that affect implicit and explicit contributions to total learning, however understanding this can help individualize motor learning-based programs in rehabilitation. Here we used a well-studied visual feedback paradigm to study how locomotor learning with an explicit task strategy affects the contributions of explicit and implicit processes. We examined this in older adults with typical, age-related cognitive decline (OA) and those with mild cognitive impairments (MCI). We hypothesized that the presence of a task strategy would increase cognitive demands and explicit contributions to learning in both groups. We also expected the MCI group to demonstrate overall greater implicit contributions compared to the OA group, to compensate for impaired cognitive abilities. Participants (n= 41) completed a motor learning task while walking on a treadmill with visual feedback, which served to facilitate their learning of a novel asymmetric stepping pattern. Our results indicate that there were no significant differences in the implicit learning component, either between MCI and OA groups or between learning with and without a task strategy. Overall, this work suggests that in locomotor learning with visual feedback, the presence of a task strategy does not affect the implicit learning contribution in older adults, nor does the presence of MCI.