Attention and Eye Movement in Parkinson's Disease

Launched by UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA · Mar 20, 2025

Keywords

ClinConnect Summary

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common age-related neurodegenerative disorder, with approximately 90,000 new cases diagnosed annually in North America. Although motor symptoms define the disorder, PD also leads to cognitive and emotional changes, such as difficulties in recognizing facial expressions and regulating attention, which often overshadow motor issues as the disease progresses. The goal of this study is to better understand the link between attention, eye movement, and emotional perception in PD, testing the hypothesis that disrupted attention leads to altered percepti...

Gender

ALL

Eligibility criteria

• • Inclusion Criteria
• * All Participants (Aim 1):
• • Ability and willingness to provide signed informed consent for this study
• • Ability to express perceptual judgments through a button press or mouse- controlled computerized slider
• • Age 19 - 90 years
• * DBS Participants (Aim 1):
• • Diagnosis of idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD) or essential tremor (ET)
• • Scheduled for new implantation of a therapeutic DBS device targeted to subthalamic nucleus (STN), ventral intermediate nucleus of thalamus (VIM) or internal globus pallidus (GPi)
• * Comparison Participants (Aim 1):
• • o Selection by age matching to participants in PD group
• * Parkinson's disease (PD) and essential tremor (ET) Participants (Aim 2):
• • Ability and willingness to provide signed informed consent for this study
• • Ability to express perceptual judgments through a button press or mouse- controlled computerized slider
• • Age 19 - 90 years
• • Scheduled for awake DBS implantation with clinical micro-electrode recordings (MER)
• • Willing and able to engage in tasks during an awake surgical procedure
• * Parkinson's disease (PD) and essential tremor (ET) Participants (Aim 3):
• • Ability and willingness to provide signed informed consent for this study
• • Ability to express perceptual judgments through a button press or mouse- controlled computerized slider
• • Age 19 - 90 years
• • Willing to undergo acute manipulations of DBS
• • Able to tolerate acute changes of DBS
• • Exclusion Criteria
• * All Participants (Aim 1):
• • Corrected visual acuity insufficient to perceptually judge face stimuli
• • Inability to understand task instructions or complete task requirements
• * DBS Participants (Aim 1):
• • o Insufficient therapeutic control of motor symptoms to engage in tasks requiring button press or use of a mouse to control a slider
• * Healthy Comparison Participants (Aim 1):
• • o History of neurodegenerative disorder
• * Parkinson's disease (PD) and essential tremor (ET) Participants (Aim 2):
• • Corrected visual acuity insufficient to perceptually judge face stimuli
• • Inability to understand task instructions or complete task requirements
• • Not undergoing awake DBS implantation
• • Uncorrected visual acuity insufficient to perceptually judge face stimuli
• * Parkinson's disease (PD) and essential tremor (ET) Participants (Aim 3):
• • Corrected visual acuity insufficient to perceptually judge face stimuli
• • Inability to understand task instructions or complete task requirements
• • Failure of DBS to achieve a therapeutic effect on motor symptoms

Trial Officials