Spatial and Temporal High Processing of Visual and Auditory Stimuli in Cervical Dystonia.
OBJECTIVE
Investigation of spatial and temporal cognitive processing in idiopathic cervical dystonia (CD) by means of specific tasks based on perception in time and space domains of visual and auditory stimuli.


BACKGROUND
Previous psychophysiological studies have investigated temporal and spatial characteristics of neural processing of sensory stimuli (mainly somatosensorial and visual), whereas the definition of such processing at higher cognitive level has not been sufficiently addressed. The impairment of time and space processing is likely driven by basal ganglia dysfunction. However, other cortical and subcortical areas, including cerebellum, may also be involved.


METHODS
We tested 21 subjects with CD and 22 age-matched healthy controls with 4 recognition tasks exploring visuo-spatial, audio-spatial, visuo-temporal, and audio-temporal processing. Dystonic subjects were subdivided in three groups according to the head movement pattern type (lateral: Laterocollis, rotation: Torticollis) as well as the presence of tremor (Tremor).


RESULTS
We found significant alteration of spatial processing in Laterocollis subgroup compared to controls, whereas impairment of temporal processing was observed in Torticollis subgroup compared to controls.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results suggest that dystonia is associated with a dysfunction of temporal and spatial processing for visual and auditory stimuli that could underlie the well-known abnormalities in sequence learning. Moreover, we suggest that different movement pattern type might lead to different dysfunctions at cognitive level within dystonic population.
Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Messina , Messina , Italy.
Gaetana
G
Chillemi
Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Messina , Messina , Italy.
Alessandro
A
Calamuneri
Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Messina , Messina , Italy.
Francesca
F
Morgante
Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Messina , Messina , Italy.
Carmen
C
Terranova
Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Messina , Messina , Italy.
Vincenzo
V
Rizzo
Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Messina , Messina , Italy.
Paolo
P
Girlanda
Department of Physiology, Pharmacology and Neuroscience, City University of New York Medical School , New York, NY , USA.
Maria Felice
MF
Ghilardi
Istituto Di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico (IRCCS), Centro "Bonino Pulejo", Messina, Italy; Department of Biomedical Science and Morphological and Functional Images, University of Messina, Messina, Italy.
Angelo
A
Quartarone
Laterocollis; Torticollis; attention; spatial processing; temporal processing