Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38237090›Full record

ArticleNeurology2024

Procedural Motor Memory Deficits in Patients With Long-COVID.

William Hayward, Ethan R Buch, Gina Norato, Fumiaki Iwane, Dabedatta Dash, Roberto F Salamanca-Girón, Elizabeth Bartrum, Brian Walitt, Avindra Nath, Leonardo G Cohen

Registry-linked trialOpen access · greenAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Neurology, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT05746624 (Procedural Motor Memory in Long COVID-19), which is not on this map. Cited by 7 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed
4.8field-weighted citation impact, top 4% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

NCT05746624 completednot on this map

Procedural Motor Memory in Long COVID-19

TypeobservationalSponsorNational Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)Ran2021 to 2022Enrolled333ConditionsInfectious Metabolic Encephalopathy, Ischemic Stroke, Seizure, Viral Encephalitis, Small and Large VesselArmskeypresses
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

7 citing papers in PubMed, 13 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Skill Memory Expansion Shapes Micro-Scale Dynamics of Skill Learning.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026
    Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Neuroimmune pathophysiology of long COVID.Psychiatry and clinical neurosciences · 2025
    Review
  7. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

William HaywardFrom the Human Cortical Physiology and Neurorehabilitation Section (W.H., E.R.B., F.I., D.D., R.F.S.-G., L.G.C.), Clinical Trials Unit (G.N.), Office of the Clinical Director, and Section of Infections of the Nervous System (E.B., B.W., A.N.), National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, NIH, Bethesda, MD.ORCID 0000-0002-9344-4203
Ethan R BuchFrom the Human Cortical Physiology and Neurorehabilitation Section (W.H., E.R.B., F.I., D.D., R.F.S.-G., L.G.C.), Clinical Trials Unit (G.N.), Office of the Clinical Director, and Section of Infections of the Nervous System (E.B., B.W., A.N.), National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, NIH, Bethesda, MD.ORCID 0000-0002-5443-8222
Gina NoratoFrom the Human Cortical Physiology and Neurorehabilitation Section (W.H., E.R.B., F.I., D.D., R.F.S.-G., L.G.C.), Clinical Trials Unit (G.N.), Office of the Clinical Director, and Section of Infections of the Nervous System (E.B., B.W., A.N.), National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, NIH, Bethesda, MD.ORCID 0000-0003-1324-0217
Fumiaki IwaneFrom the Human Cortical Physiology and Neurorehabilitation Section (W.H., E.R.B., F.I., D.D., R.F.S.-G., L.G.C.), Clinical Trials Unit (G.N.), Office of the Clinical Director, and Section of Infections of the Nervous System (E.B., B.W., A.N.), National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, NIH, Bethesda, MD.ORCID 0000-0002-9659-4127
Dabedatta DashFrom the Human Cortical Physiology and Neurorehabilitation Section (W.H., E.R.B., F.I., D.D., R.F.S.-G., L.G.C.), Clinical Trials Unit (G.N.), Office of the Clinical Director, and Section of Infections of the Nervous System (E.B., B.W., A.N.), National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, NIH, Bethesda, MD.ORCID 0000-0002-0543-0304
Roberto F Salamanca-GirónFrom the Human Cortical Physiology and Neurorehabilitation Section (W.H., E.R.B., F.I., D.D., R.F.S.-G., L.G.C.), Clinical Trials Unit (G.N.), Office of the Clinical Director, and Section of Infections of the Nervous System (E.B., B.W., A.N.), National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, NIH, Bethesda, MD.ORCID 0009-0008-5743-6805
Elizabeth BartrumFrom the Human Cortical Physiology and Neurorehabilitation Section (W.H., E.R.B., F.I., D.D., R.F.S.-G., L.G.C.), Clinical Trials Unit (G.N.), Office of the Clinical Director, and Section of Infections of the Nervous System (E.B., B.W., A.N.), National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, NIH, Bethesda, MD.ORCID 0000-0002-1191-0734
Brian WalittFrom the Human Cortical Physiology and Neurorehabilitation Section (W.H., E.R.B., F.I., D.D., R.F.S.-G., L.G.C.), Clinical Trials Unit (G.N.), Office of the Clinical Director, and Section of Infections of the Nervous System (E.B., B.W., A.N.), National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, NIH, Bethesda, MD.ORCID 0000-0003-1743-5230
Avindra NathFrom the Human Cortical Physiology and Neurorehabilitation Section (W.H., E.R.B., F.I., D.D., R.F.S.-G., L.G.C.), Clinical Trials Unit (G.N.), Office of the Clinical Director, and Section of Infections of the Nervous System (E.B., B.W., A.N.), National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, NIH, Bethesda, MD.ORCID 0000-0003-0927-5855
Leonardo G CohenFrom the Human Cortical Physiology and Neurorehabilitation Section (W.H., E.R.B., F.I., D.D., R.F.S.-G., L.G.C.), Clinical Trials Unit (G.N.), Office of the Clinical Director, and Section of Infections of the Nervous System (E.B., B.W., A.N.), National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, NIH, Bethesda, MD.ORCID 0000-0002-1705-8773
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke · US

Funding

Neuropathogenesis of Retroviral InfectionsZIANS003130 · NINDS · NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERS AND STROKE · PI NATH, AVINDRA · 2011 to 2025
$73.7M
Modulating brain plasticity in rehabilitation of stroke and other brain lesionsZIANS003030 · NINDS · NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERS AND STROKE · PI COHEN, LEONARDO GREGORIO · 2009 to 2025
$23.2M
Post-Viral SyndromesZIANS003157 · NINDS · NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERS AND STROKE · PI NATH, AVINDRA · 2016 to 2025
$13.5M
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND

objectivesAt least 15% of patients who recover from acute severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection experience lasting symptoms ("Long-COVID") including "brain fog" and deficits in declarative memory. It is not known if Long-COVID affects patients' ability to form and retain procedural motor skill memories. The objective was to determine the ability of patients with Long-COVID to acquire and consolidate a new procedural motor skill over 2 training days. The primary outcome was to determine difference in early learning, measured as the increase in correct sequence typing speed over the initial 11 practice trials of a new skill. The secondary outcomes were initial and final typing speed on days 1 and 2, learning rate, overnight consolidation, and typing accuracy.

methodsIn this prospective, cross-sectional, online, case-control study, participants learned a sequential motor skill over 2 consecutive days (NCT05746624). Patients with Long-COVID (reporting persistent post-coronavirus disease 2019 [COVID-19] symptoms for more than 4 weeks) were recruited at the NIH. Patients were matched one-to-one by age and sex to controls recruited during the pandemic using a crowd-sourcing platform. Selection criteria included age 18-90 years, English speaking, right-handed, able to type with the left hand, denied active fever or respiratory infection, and no previous task exposure. Data were also compared with an age-matched and sex-matched control group who performed the task online before the COVID-19 pandemic (prepandemic controls).

resultsIn total, 105 of 236 patients contacted agreed to participate and completed the experiment (mean ± SD age 46 ± 12.8 years, 82% female). Both healthy control groups had 105 participants (mean age 46 ± 13.1 and 46 ± 11.9 years, 82% female). Early learning was comparable across groups (Long-COVID: 0.36 ± 0.24 correct sequences/second, pandemic controls: 0.36 ± 0.53 prepandemic controls: 0.38 ± 0.57, patients vs pandemic controls [CI -0.068 to 0.067], vs prepandemic controls [CI -0.084 to 0.052], and between controls [CI -0.083 to 0.053], DISCUSSION: Early learning was comparable in patients with Long-COVID and controls. Anomalous initial performance is consistent with executive dysfunction. Reduction in overnight consolidation may relate to deficits in procedural memory formation.

Indexed as

COVID-19Psychomotor PerformanceAdolescentAdultAgedAged, 80 and overCase-Control StudiesCross-Sectional StudiesFemaleHumansMaleMemory DisordersMiddle AgedMotor SkillsPandemicsPost-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome

Identifiers

PMID38237090
PMCPMC11097756
OpenAlexW4390964833

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
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Registered trials

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.