Spared error-related potentials in mild to moderate Parkinson's disease

Neuropsychologia. 2002;40(12):2116-24. doi: 10.1016/s0028-3932(02)00052-0.

Abstract

Several lines of evidence indicate that people with Parkinson's disease are impaired at detecting their own motor errors. In the present study, we use a component of the event-related brain potential called the error-related negativity (ERN) to ask whether a high-level, generic error-processing system is compromised in Parkinson's disease. We recorded the electroencephalogram (EEG) from nine patients with mild to moderate Parkinson's disease and from nine normal control subjects while they performed a choice reaction time task. We found that the amplitude of the ERN was the same for both populations, indicating that the error-processing system associated with the ERN is not severely compromised in this Parkinson's disease population. These results are discussed in terms of disease progression.

Publication types

  • Clinical Trial
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms
  • Electroencephalography*
  • Evoked Potentials / physiology
  • Functional Laterality / physiology
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Parkinson Disease / physiopathology
  • Parkinson Disease / psychology*
  • Prefrontal Cortex / physiopathology
  • Psychomotor Performance / physiology*