Temporal discrimination learning for treatment of gait dysfunction in Parkinson’s disease: a feasibility study using single subject design

DOI: 10.7157/jprls.2011v1n1pp8-­‐11 Abstract: Freezing of gait in Parkinson’s disease may be attributed to dysfunctional neural timing that alters stride time variability. This study investigated the feasibility of a five-day perceptual timing training program using an auditory interval discrimination task to reduce stride time variability in Parkinson’s disease. Results showed that training produced an increase in time-discrimination acuity in a Parkinson’s disease patient, followed by a decrease in stride time variability. Effects persisted six weeks after training. No learning transfer effects were found in a patient trained in a pitch discrimination task. In conclusion, interval discrimination training may reduce temporal gait irregularities in Parkinson’s disease.