Memory-motor transformations are impaired in Parkinson's disease

Ketcham, C. J., Hodgson, T. L., Kennard, C. and Stelmach, G. E. (2003) Memory-motor transformations are impaired in Parkinson's disease. Experimental Brain Research, 149 (1). pp. 30-39. ISSN 0014-4819

Full content URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12592501

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Item Type:Article
Item Status:Live Archive

Abstract

Parkinson's disease patients are known to suffer loss of dopaminergic input to the rostral caudate nucleus. Recent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have implicated this structure in the transformation of spatial information in memory to guide action, suggesting that memory to motor transformations may be selectively impaired in Parkinson's disease. In order to investigate this possibility we tested a group of Parkinson's disease patients (PDs) using a memory-guided pointing task. Of interest was whether patients showed reduced accuracy in the task as a function of memory load. Twelve PD patients and 13 elderly controls were asked to recall single or four step target sequences with 2 time delays (500 and 3,500 ms). In all memory-guided conditions PD patients showed increased variability in memory-guided movement end-points. This effect was not affected by delay, number of items, or the sequence familiarity. The results are consistent with increased variability in memory-motor transformations in early PD, due to dopamine depletion within the rostral caudate nucleus.

Keywords:adult, aged, article, biotransformation, caudate nucleus, clinical article, controlled study, depletion, dopaminergic system, human, memory, movement (physiology), nuclear magnetic resonance imaging, Parkinson disease, priority journal, Aged, Eye Movements, Humans, Mental Recall, Middle Aged, Motor Activity, Psychomotor Performance, Random Allocation, Time Factors, bmjdoi
Subjects:C Biological Sciences > C800 Psychology
Divisions:College of Social Science > School of Psychology
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ID Code:10540
Deposited On:12 Jul 2013 14:29

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