Altered Inhibitory Mechanisms in Parkinson ’s Disease: Evidence From Lexical Decision and Simple Reaction Time Tasks

DiscussionMotor execution was not slowed in patients with PD either off or on medication, in comparison with controls. Regarding lexical access, patients off medication seemed to (1) have difficulty inhibiting a cognitive-linguistic process (i.e., reading) when it was not required (simple reaction time task), and (2) exhibit a specific pseudoword processing deficit in the LDT, which may have been related to impaired lateral word inhibition within the mental lexicon. These deficits seemed to be compensated by medication.
Source: Frontiers in Human Neuroscience - Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research