A deficit in optimizing task solution but robust and well-retained speed and accuracy gains in complex skill acquisition in Parkinson׳s disease: Multi-session training on the Tower of Hanoi Puzzle

The results do not support the notion of a core deficit in gaining speed (fluency) or generating procedural memory in PD. However, PD patients settled on less-than-optimal solutions of the task, i.e., less efficient task solving process. The results are consistent with animal studies of the effects of dopamine depletion on task exploration. Thus, patients with PD may have a problem in exploring for optimal task solution rather than in skill acquisition and retention per se.