title: Predictors of HVOT performance in Parkinson's disease.
abstract: Evidence suggests that the Hooper Visual Organization Test (HVOT) has naming and executive components that vary in size depending on neurological diagnosis. The current study used a sample of individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD) to demonstrate for the first time that an executive measure can be the best predictor of HVOT performance. Forty-eight nondemented and nondepressed individuals with idiopathic PD completed the HVOT and other measures of visuoperception, executive function, and visual confrontation naming. Despite average performance on all neuropsychological measures, an executive measure, time to complete Trail-Making Test Part B minus time to complete Part A, was clearly the best predictor of HVOT performance in a standard regression. The pattern of neurocognitive predictors is unlike that reported in healthy individuals and other patient samples. This finding suggests that the presence of a neuropathological process can alter neurocognitive correlates even when performance is intact, and supports the contention that executive function is paramount in the cognitive profile associated with PD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Loyola University Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland 21210-2699, USA. cihigginson@loyola.edu
authors.forename: Christopher I
authors.initials: CI
authors.lastname: Higginson
authors.forename: Vicki L
authors.initials: VL
authors.lastname: Wheelock
authors.forename: Dawn
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Levine
authors.forename: Conrad T E
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Pappas
authors.forename: Karen A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Sigvardt
mesh_terms: D056344:Executive Function; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000523:psychology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D014796:Visual Perception