Impairments of mental rotation in Parkinson's disease

Neuropsychologia. 1998 Jan;36(1):109-14. doi: 10.1016/s0028-3932(97)00017-1.

Abstract

It is controversial whether parkinsonian patients are impaired on visuospatial tasks. In the present study, patients and normal control subjects judged whether pairs of wire-frame figures in different orientations were the same or different. The orientation difference between the figures was either in the picture plane (around the z-axis, or two-dimensional) or in depth (around the y-axis, or three-dimensional). Reaction times and error rates were measured. For the two-dimensional task, there were no significant differences in errors between the two groups, though Parkinsonian subjects were significantly slower to respond than the control group. In the three-dimensional task, patients had a different pattern of reaction times from the controls and made significantly more errors, which were systematic at large angular differences. The results suggest a visuospatial deficit in Parkinson's disease, which reflects problems in some aspect of the perception of extra-personal space.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Cognition Disorders
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Orientation*
  • Parkinson Disease / psychology*
  • Reaction Time
  • Space Perception
  • Visual Perception*