title: Bimanual co-ordination in Parkinson's disease.
abstract: The basal ganglia may be involved in bimanual co-ordination. Parkinson's disease (which impairs basal ganglia output) is clinically reported to cause difficulties in the performance of co-ordinated bimanual movements. Nevertheless, any bimanual co-ordination difficulties may be task specific, as experimental observations are equivocal. To infer the role of the basal ganglia in co-ordinating the two arms, this study investigated the bimanual co-ordination of patients with Parkinson's disease. Sixteen Parkinson's disease patients and matched control subjects performed a bimanual cranking task, at different speeds (1 and 2 Hz) and phase relationships. All subjects performed the required bimanual in-phase movement on a pair of cranks, at fast (2 Hz) and slow (1 Hz) speeds. However, the Parkinson's disease patients were unable to perform the asymmetrical anti-phase movement, in which rotation of the cranks differed by 180 degrees, at either speed; but instead reverted to the in-phase symmetrical movement. For Parkinson's disease patients, performance of the in-phase movement was more accurate and stable when an external timing cue was used; however, for anti-phase movement, the external cue accentuated the tendency for patients to revert to more symmetrical, in-phase movements.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: K A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cunnington
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Bradshaw
authors.forename: J G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Phillips
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Iansek
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Rogers
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000978:Antiparkinson Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001132:Arm; D001479:Basal Ganglia / Q000502:physiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009043:Motor Activity; D009068:Movement; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time; D012016:Reference Values
chemical_list: D000978:Antiparkinson Agents