Motor imagery of a lateralized sequential task is asymmetrically slowed in hemi-Parkinson's patients

Neuropsychologia. 1995 Jun;33(6):727-41. doi: 10.1016/0028-3932(95)00008-q.

Abstract

We examined seven right-handed, asymmetrical (right side affected) Parkinson's disease patients and seven age-matched controls in a manual finger sequencing test using left and right hands in vision, no vision, and motor imagery conditions. All patients displayed motor asymmetry, favoring the left hand. They also displayed motor imagery asymmetry, mentally simulating movement more slowly with their right affected hand than with their left hand. Additionally, impairment in mental hand rotation correlated significantly with the imagery asymmetry. These data support two related hypotheses: (a) Motor sequence imagery and execution share common neural structures. (b) The frontostriatal system is among these shared structures.

Publication types

  • Clinical Trial
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Basal Ganglia / physiology
  • Female
  • Fingers / physiology
  • Functional Laterality / physiology*
  • Humans
  • Imagination / physiology*
  • Levodopa / therapeutic use
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Neuropsychological Tests
  • Parkinson Disease / drug therapy
  • Parkinson Disease / psychology*
  • Psychomotor Performance / physiology
  • Reaction Time / physiology
  • Rotation

Substances

  • Levodopa