title: Impaired anticipatory control of grasp during obstacle crossing in Parkinson's disease.
abstract: During self-paced walking, people with Parkinson's disease maintain anticipatory control during object grasping. However, common functional tasks often include carrying an object while changing step patterns mid-path and maneuvering over obstacles, increasing task complexity and attentional demands. Thus, the present study investigated the effect of Parkinson's disease on the modulation of grasping force changes as a function of gait-related inertial forces. Subjects with Parkinson's disease maintained the ability to scale and to couple over time their grip and inertial forces while walking at irregular step lengths, but were unable to maintain the temporal coupling of grasping forces compared to controls during obstacle crossing. We suggest that this deterioration in anticipatory control is associated with the increased demands of task complexity and attention during obstacle crossing.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biobehavioral Sciences, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA. tm2312@columbia.edu
authors.forename: Tara L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: McIsaac
authors.forename: Gudrun
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Diermayr
authors.forename: Frederic
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Albert
mesh_terms: D059031:Anticipation, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D005684:Gait / Q000502:physiology; D018737:Hand Strength / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*