Classical eyeblink conditioning in Parkinson's disease.
Patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) show impairments of a range of motor learning tasks, including tracking or serial reaction time task learning. Our study investigated whether such deficits would also be seen on a simple type of motor learning, classic conditioning of the eyeblink response. Medicated and unmediated patients with PD showed intact unconditioned eyeblink responses and significant learning across acquisition; the learning rates did not differ from those of healthy control subjects. The overall frequency of conditioned responses was significantly higher in the medicated patients with PD relative to control subjects, and there was also some evidence of facilitation in the unmedicated patients with PD. Conditioning of electrodermal and electrocortical responses was comparable in all groups. The findings are discussed in terms of enhanced excitability of brainstem pathways in PD and of the involvement of different neuronal circuits in different types of motor learning.
Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Neurobiology, University of Tübingen, Germany.
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Daum
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Schugens
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Breitenstein
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Topka
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Spieker
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000978:Antiparkinson Agents / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001143:Arousal / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D001245:Association Learning / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000187:drug effects / Q000503:physiopathology; D003214:Conditioning, Classical / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D003215:Conditioning, Eyelid / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000187:drug effects; D005260:Female; D005712:Galvanic Skin Response / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology*
D000978:Antiparkinson Agents