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An examination of the nature of attentional deficits in patients with Parkinson's disease: Evidence from a spatial orienting task

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 1997

J. VINCENT FILOTEO
Affiliation:
University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT
DEAN C. DELIS
Affiliation:
University of California, San Diego, CA Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, San Diego, CA
DAVID P. SALMON
Affiliation:
University of California, San Diego, CA
THERESA DEMADURA
Affiliation:
University of California, San Diego, CA
MARY J. ROMAN
Affiliation:
University of California, San Diego, CA
CLIFFORD W. SHULTS
Affiliation:
University of California, San Diego, CA Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, San Diego, CA

Abstract

Endogenous and exogenous shifts of attention were examined in nondemented patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). In the endogenous condition, an arrow was used to cue participants' attention to the possible location of an impending target, whereas in the exogenous condition, a brightened box was used to cue attention. Cues were either valid (i.e., the target appeared in the cued location) or invalid (i.e., the target appeared in a noncued location). The time between cue onset and target onset (stimulus onset asynchrony or SOA) was varied in each condition. The results indicated that PD patients were not differentially impaired in shifting attention at the shorter SOAs relative to normal controls. However, at longer SOAs, the PD patients demonstrated less of an effect from cueing than did the normal control participants. PD patients' differential effect from cueing was evident in both exogenous and endogenous conditions. These results suggest that PD patients may experience a rapid decay of attentional inhibition and do not support the notion that a decrement in processing resources underlies their attentional deficits. Moreover, these findings further support the notion that the basal ganglia may play an important role in attentional functions. (JINS, 1997, 3, 337–347.)

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 1997 The International Neuropsychological Society

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