title: The time course of spatial and object learning in Parkinson's disease.
abstract: Parkinson's disease (PD) is characterized by spatial memory dysfunction, but the selectivity of the deficit remains unclear. We addressed this issue by comparing performance on spatial and object variants of a conditional associative learning task, and by analysing the data with time series analytical techniques. The 11 PD subjects and 15 normal control subjects learned stimulus-stimulus pairings through trial-and-error learning. PD subjects were selectively impaired on the spatial condition: they required more trials to achieve criterion, learned at a slower rate and displayed a working memory deficit. The groups did not differ in the object condition. These results suggest a distinction between material-specific spatial and object visual memory systems. Further, they indicate that spatial learning and memory are selectively impaired in early PD, suggesting that interactions between the basal ganglia and prefrontal cortex are important for the mediation of high-level cognition.
authors.affiliation: Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139, USA. postle@mail.med.upenn.edu
authors.forename: B R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Postle
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Locascio
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Corkin
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Growdon
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001245:Association Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007859:Learning Disabilities / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D008875:Middle Aged; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology; D011930:Reaction Time; D012044:Regression Analysis; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis