[Working memory impairment in early Parkinson's disease patients].
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the characteristics of working memory impairment in early Parkinson's disease (PD) patients and underlying neuropsychological and patho-physiological mechanisms.


METHODS
Thirty PD cases and 30 normal controls (NCs) were tested with modified Smith's working memory software.


RESULTS
The correct rate of coordinate working memory in PD cases was 71.2 +/- 11.0%, significantly lower than that in the NCs (81.9% +/- 10.8%, t =3.78, P < 0.001). The correct rate of categorical working memory was 94.8 +/- 5.7% in the PD cases, not significantly different from that in the NCs (96.6% +/- 3.8%, t =1.46, P > 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
There is visuo-spatial working memory impairment, mainly coordinate spatial working memory impairment, in early PD patients. The categorical spatial working memory is relatively intact in early PD. It is postulated that the different working memory subsystems apply for different neurocircuits.
Department of Neurology, Beijing Hospital, Beijing 100730, China.
Haibo
H
Chen
Shuhua
S
Li
Xinde
X
Wang
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003071:Cognition; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000523:psychology*