page_title: Procedural memory
section_title: Pursuit rotor task
hierarchical_section_title: Procedural memory / Tests / Pursuit rotor task
caption_attribution_description: English: Screenshot of the PEBL Pursuit Rotor Task
context_page_description: Procedural memory is a type of implicit memory which aids the performance of particular types of tasks without conscious awareness of these previous experiences.
  Procedural memory guides the processes we perform, and most frequently resides below the level of conscious awareness. When needed, procedural memories are automatically retrieved and utilized for execution of the integrated procedures involved in both cognitive and motor skills, from tying shoes, to reading, to flying an airplane. Procedural memories are accessed and used without the need for conscious control or attention.
  Procedural memory is created through procedural learning, or repeating a complex activity over and over again until all of the relevant neural systems work together to automatically produce the activity. Implicit procedural learning is essential for the development of any motor skill or cognitive activity.
context_section_description: A device used to study visual-motor tracking skills and hand–eye coordination by requiring the participant to follow a moving object with a cursor or use a stylus to follow the target on a computer screen or a turntable. With the computer screen version, the participant follows a dot on a circular path like the one shown below. 
  
  The pursuit rotor task is a simple pure visual-motor tracking test that has consistent results within age groups. This displays a measurement of procedural memory as well as demonstrates the participant's fine motor skills. The pursuit rotor task tests the fine-motor skills which are controlled by the motor cortex illustrated by the green section below. 
   The results are then calculated by the participant's time-on and time-off the object. Amnesic participants show no impairment in this motor task when tested at later trials. It does however seem to be affected by lack of sleep and drug use.
caption: Screenshot of a computerized version of the pursuit rotor task.
exif: {}