Memory for spatial location is affected in Parkinson's disease.
Are the striato-frontal neuronal circuits implicated in learning of item-specific spatial coordinates? To answer this question, we compared the performance of 20 patients with Parkinson's disease to that of 14 controls matched for age, global cognitive efficiency and mood, on a visuo-spatial learning task with little involvement of motor and constructive functions, allowing control of encoding and comparison of free recall, cued recall and recognition. Compared to controls, patients showed a severe memory impairment for visuo-spatial location of pictures, contrasting with relative preservation of verbal memory, and mild difficulties in perceptive visuo-spatial and executive functions. These results implicate striato-frontal neuronal circuits in memory for spatial location.
Pillon
B
B
INSERM U 289 and Fédération de Neurologie, Hôpital de la Salpêtrière, Paris, France.
Ertle
S
S
Deweer
B
B
Sarazin
M
M
Agid
Y
Y
Dubois
B
B
D000368:Aged; D000978:Antiparkinson Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology; D007980:Levodopa / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D011939:Mental Recall; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000523:psychology*; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D014706:Verbal Learning / Q000502:physiology
D000978:Antiparkinson Agents; D007980:Levodopa