title: Dopaminergic medication alters auditory distractor processing in Parkinson's disease.
abstract: Parkinson's disease (PD) patients show signs of cognitive impairment, such as executive dysfunction, working memory problems and attentional disturbances, even in the early stages of the disease. Though motor symptoms of the disease are often successfully addressed by dopaminergic medication, it still remains unclear, how dopaminergic therapy affects cognitive function. The main objective of this study was to assess the effect of dopaminergic medication on visual and auditory attentional processing. 14 PD patients and 13 matched healthy controls performed a three-stimulus auditory and visual oddball task while their EEG was recorded. The patients performed the task twice, once on- and once off-medication. While the results showed no significant differences between PD patients and controls, they did reveal a significant increase in P3 amplitude on- vs. off-medication specific to processing of auditory distractors and no other stimuli. These results indicate significant effect of dopaminergic therapy on processing of distracting auditory stimuli. With a lack of between group differences the effect could reflect either 1) improved recruitment of attentional resources to auditory distractors; 2) reduced ability for cognitive inhibition of auditory distractors; 3) increased response to distractor stimuli resulting in impaired cognitive performance; or 4) hindered ability to discriminate between auditory distractors and targets. Further studies are needed to differentiate between these possibilities.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University Medical Centre, Zaloška cesta 2, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia; Sobell Department of Motor Neuroscience and Movement Disorders, Institute of Neurology, University College London, 33 Queen Square, London WC1N 3BG, United Kingdom. Electronic address: dgeorgiev@ucl.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Dejan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Georgiev
authors.affiliation: Sobell Department of Motor Neuroscience and Movement Disorders, Institute of Neurology, University College London, 33 Queen Square, London WC1N 3BG, United Kingdom. Electronic address: m.jahanshahi@ucl.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Marjan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jahanshahi
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University Medical Centre, Zaloška cesta 2, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia. Electronic address: jurij.dreo@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Jurij
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dreo
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University Medical Centre, Zaloška cesta 2, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia. Electronic address: anja.cus@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Anja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Čuš
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University Medical Centre, Zaloška cesta 2, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia. Electronic address: zvezdan.pirtosek@kclj.si.
authors.forename: Zvezdan
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Pirtošek
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts, Aškerčeva 2, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia. Electronic address: grega.repovs@psy.ff.uni-lj.si.
authors.forename: Grega
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Repovš
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001288:Attention / Q000187:drug effects*; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000187:drug effects*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003071:Cognition; D015259:Dopamine Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D015259:Dopamine Agents
keywords: Event-related potentials; Executive functions; Movement disorders; P3; Parkinson's disease (PD); Visual and auditory attention