Dopamine and Motor Learning in Cerebral Palsy

Background: Cerebral palsy (CP) is the most common childhood motor disability. The neurotransmitter dopamine (DA) is important in cognition and emotions/behavior. DA may also be important in motor skill learning. Genes that relate to DA function may affect a person s ability to learn new cognitive or motor skills. Some children with CP can learn motor skills easily while others have trouble. Researchers want to find out if DA gene variations cause some of this variability. Objectives: To learn more about how DA and its related genes affect motor and cognitive learning in people with and without CP. Eligibility: People ages 5 25 with and without CP who can: Follow the protocol Attend and perform the training sessions Design: Participants will be screened with: Medical history Physical exam Blood draw for genetic tests The study has 2 parts. Participants with CP can join both. Those without can join only Part 1. All participants will have a baseline assessment: short motor skills test and blood draw. Part 1: Two 10-session training programs over 2 weeks. Cognitive training will be 2 sessions at the clinic, 8 at home. Participants will perform memory tasks on a computer. All 10 motor training sessions are at the clinic. Participants will step on lines in a virtual reality environment. Part 2: Two lab training sessions at least 1 week apart. Participants will perform tasks on a computer. Participants with CP may have a brain MRI at 1 visit. They will lie on a table that slides into a machine that takes pictures. They will be in the scanner about 45 minutes. They may have a