Subthalamic stimulation affects homophone meaning generation in Parkinson's disease.
Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) in individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD) has often been associated with reduced verbal fluency performance. This study aimed to directly assess semantic switching as a function of STN stimulation in PD participants with the Homophone Meaning Generation Test (HMGT). Seventeen participants with PD who had received STN DBS completed the HMGT in on and off stimulation conditions. Twenty-one non-neurologically impaired participants acted as controls. PD participants (in both on and off stimulation conditions) generated significantly fewer meanings than control participants and consistent with the previous reports of verbal fluency impairment, PD participants produced fewer definitions in the on stimulation condition. PD participants (in both on and off stimulation conditions) also had greater difficulty generating definitions for nonhomographic homophones compared with homographic homographs. The results of this study indicate that STN stimulation exacerbates impairment in semantic switching.
Castner
Joanna E
JE
Centre for Research into Language Processing and Linguistics, Division of Speech Pathology, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
Copland
David A
DA
Silburn
Peter A
PA
Coyne
Terry J
TJ
Sinclair
Felicity
F
Chenery
Helen J
HJ