Memory for time intervals is impaired in left hemi-Parkinson patients.
The basal ganglia have been proposed as one of the neural correlates of timekeeping functions. Both encoding and memory retrieval components for time perception are impaired in Parkinson's disease (PD). The aim of our study was to investigate in hemi-Parkinsonian patients the existence of a specific alteration in memory for time depending on the affected side, to better understand the contribution of the left or right basal ganglia circuits in different components of time perception. Right and left hemi-PD patients performed a time reproduction task in which they were required to reproduce in the same session short (5 s) and long (15 s) time intervals, in off- and on-therapy condition. While the right hemi-PD patients overestimated the shorter interval, only the left hemi-PD group showed the memory migration effect, overestimating the shorter and underestimating the longer time intervals. These results argue for a critical involvement of the right basal ganglia in memory retrieval for time intervals, in the range of seconds.
Koch
Giacomo
G
Clinica Neurologica, Dipartimento di Neuroscienze, Università di Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy. giakoch@libero.it
Brusa
Livia
L
Oliveri
Massimiliano
M
Stanzione
Paolo
P
Caltagirone
Carlo
C
D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000978:Antiparkinson Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007980:Levodopa / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D013997:Time Factors
D000978:Antiparkinson Agents; D007980:Levodopa