Explicit and implicit motor sequence learning: motor learning analysis in children with Down syndrome

The purpose of the present study was to explore explicit and implicit motor sequence learning in 24 children with Down's syndrome (DS) and 24 matched typically developing (TD) children using a serial reaction time (SRT) task with both random and regular trials. The intervention was consisted of 10 stages (8 blocks for acquisition and 2 blocks for retention) in which the performances of groups were compared. In acquisition phase, our results showed a progress in the performance of SRT task in all groups while performing the SRT task. In addition, in retention phase, the results showed that children with DS succeed as well as TD children at the implicit motor sequence learning task. There were no significant differences between groups. But there was a significant difference between groups for explicit learning and the group of TD explicit children showed a reliable sequence learning pattern compared to DS children. These results are in line with the cognitive and motor features of the DS children and suggest that implicit motor learning is intact in children with DS but explicit motor learning seems to be impaired in these children. Nevertheless, this article provides preliminary data regarding implicit learning in DS children and further empirical research is needed to provide more meticulous and logical explanations. From a practical view, we suggest that during the education and rehabilitation interventions to children with DS, we can make use the benefits of implicit learning, because these children can learn skills implicitly.