Predicting motor skill learning capacity with brain-behavior relationships in Lead Investigator: Sydney Schaefer Institution : Arizona State University E-Mail : sydney.schaefer@asu.edu Proposal ID : 825 Proposal Description: 1) The goal of the proposed research is to understand whether and why visuospatial performance predicts motor skill learning in older adults. The expected outcome is that structural brain data, combined with routine neuropsychological assessments, may be useful in identifying responders and non-responders to neurorehabilitative treatments for improving motor function. This will impact the field of neurorehabilitation, particularly for older patients, who are known to be less responsive to behavioral therapies. By establishing the relationship between brain structure, cognitive domains, and motor learning in older adults, we may be better able to select appropriate and efficacious neurorehabilitative approaches for aging clinical populations. Unlike many other studies of motor function and aging that focus on gait and balance issues, we are particularly interested in fine motor skill involving reaching and grasping behaviors that are involved in many activities of daily living. 2) Our specific objective is to test a stated hypothesis. More specifically, we have experimental data showing that motor skill learning capacity (that is, the ability to improve on a novel motor task with extensive practice) is related to visuospatial performance in older adults with amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment, such that those with better visuospatial performance demonstrate more skill learning than those with poorer visuospatial performance. Given the parieto-frontal pathways of visuospatial processing for motor actions, we hypothesize that better structural integrity of parieto-frontal white matter tracts will be related to 1) better visuospatial performance in older adults, and 2) more skill learning of a novel motor task. Research team?s experience in collecting and analyzing functi