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Memory-motor transformations are impaired in Parkinson's disease

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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.

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Notes

  1. This also enhances the ecological validity of our study as no constraints are put on eye movements in standard clinical assessment of spatial memory functions.

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Acknowledgements.

This work was supported by NS 43502 and NS 39352 Grants from the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Strokes as well as a Burroughs-Wellcome Award awarded to George E. Stelmach. A portion of this research was presented at the 2001 Cognitive Neuroscience Conference in New York.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Motor Control Laboratory, Arizona State University, PO Box 870404, Tempe, AZ , 85287-0404, USA

    Caroline J. Ketcham & George E. Stelmach

  2. School of Psychology, University of Exeter, Exeter , EX4 4QG, UK

    Timothy L. Hodgson

  3. Division of Neuroscience, Imperial College, Charing Cross Campus, London, UK

    Christopher Kennard

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  1. Caroline J. Ketcham
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  2. Timothy L. Hodgson
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  3. Christopher Kennard
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  4. George E. Stelmach
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Correspondence to George E. Stelmach.

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Ketcham, C.J., Hodgson, T.L., Kennard, C. et al. Memory-motor transformations are impaired in Parkinson's disease. Exp Brain Res 149, 30–39 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-002-1332-1

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