title: Visuospatial Processing Deficits Linked to Posterior Brain Regions in Premanifest and Early Stage Huntington's Disease.
abstract: Visuospatial processing deficits have been reported in Huntington's disease (HD). To date, no study has examined associations between visuospatial cognition and posterior brain findings in HD.
  
  
  
  We compared 119 premanifest (55> and 64<10.8 years to expected disease onset) and 104 early symptomatic (59 stage-1 and 45 stage-2) gene carriers, with 110 controls on visual search and mental rotation performance at baseline and 12 months. In the disease groups, we also examined associations between task performance and disease severity, functional capacity and structural brain measures.
  
  
  
  Cross-sectionally, there were strong differences between all disease groups and controls on visual search, and between diagnosed groups and controls on mental rotation accuracy. Only the premanifest participants close to onset took longer than controls to respond correctly to mental rotation. Visual search negatively correlated with disease burden and motor symptoms in diagnosed individuals, and positively correlated with functional capacity. Mental rotation ("same") was negatively correlated with motor symptoms in stage-2 individuals, and positively correlated with functional capacity. Visual search and mental rotation were associated with parieto-occipital (pre-/cuneus, calcarine, lingual) and temporal (posterior fusiform) volume and cortical thickness. Longitudinally, visual search deteriorated over 12 months in stage-2 individuals, with no evidence of declines in mental rotation.
  
  
  
  Our findings provide evidence linking early visuospatial deficits to functioning and posterior cortical dysfunction in HD. The findings are important since large research efforts have focused on fronto-striatal mediated cognitive changes, with little attention given to aspects of cognition outside of these areas. (JINS, 2016, 22, 595-608).
authors.affiliation: 1School of Psychological Sciences,Monash University,Clayton,Victoria,Australia.
authors.forename: Izelle
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Labuschagne
authors.affiliation: 3Department of Medical Statistics,London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine,London,United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Amy Mulick
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Cassidy
authors.affiliation: 4UCL Institute of Neurology,University College London,United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Rachael I
authors.initials: RI
authors.lastname: Scahill
authors.affiliation: 4UCL Institute of Neurology,University College London,United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Eileanoir B
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.affiliation: 4UCL Institute of Neurology,University College London,United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Elin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rees
authors.affiliation: 1School of Psychological Sciences,Monash University,Clayton,Victoria,Australia.
authors.forename: Alison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: O'Regan
authors.affiliation: 5Queller Consulting,Dunedin,Florida.
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Queller
authors.affiliation: 3Department of Medical Statistics,London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine,London,United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Frost
authors.affiliation: 6Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics,Department of Medical Genetics,University of British Columbia,Vancouver, BC,Canada.
authors.forename: Blair R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Leavitt
authors.affiliation: 7Department of Genetics and Cytogenetics, and INSERMUMR S679,APHP, ICM Institute, Hôpital de la Salpêtrière,Paris,France.
authors.forename: Alexandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dürr
authors.affiliation: 8Department of Neurology,Leiden University Medical Centre,Leiden,Netherlands.
authors.forename: Raymond
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Roos
authors.affiliation: 4UCL Institute of Neurology,University College London,United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Gail
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Owen
authors.affiliation: 9CHDI Management/CHDI Foundation,Princeton,New Jersey.
authors.forename: Beth
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Borowsky
authors.affiliation: 4UCL Institute of Neurology,University College London,United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Sarah J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Tabrizi
authors.affiliation: 1School of Psychological Sciences,Monash University,Clayton,Victoria,Australia.
authors.forename: Julie C
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-9637-8590
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Stout
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006816:Huntington Disease / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D062706:Prodromal Symptoms; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Basal ganglia; Cognition; Cortical thickness; MRI; Neurodegenerative disease; Occipital lobe; Parietal lobe; Voxel-based morphometry