Disentangling the Role of Working Memory in Parkinson’s Disease

Working memory represents a core cognitive function with major striatal contribution, and thus working memory deficits, commonly observed in Parkinson's disease, could also relate to many other problems in Parkinson's disease patients. Our online study aimed to determine the subdomains of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Frontiers in aging neuroscience 2020-09, Vol.12, p.572037-572037
Main Authors: Salmi, Juha, Ritakallio, Liisa, Fellman, Daniel, Ellfolk, Ulla, Rinne, Juha O., Laine, Matti
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
affective symptoms
Anxiety
Cognitive ability
cognitive impairment
Dementia
depression
Emotional behavior
Executive function
Memory
Movement disorders
Neostriatum
Neurodegenerative diseases
Neuroscience
Parkinson's disease
Short term memory
working memory
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Summary:Working memory represents a core cognitive function with major striatal contribution, and thus working memory deficits, commonly observed in Parkinson's disease, could also relate to many other problems in Parkinson's disease patients. Our online study aimed to determine the subdomains of working memory that are particularly affected in Parkinson's disease, and to clarify the links between working memory and everyday cognitive deficits, other executive functions, psychiatric and Parkinson's disease symptoms, as well as early cognitive impairment. Fifty-two mild-to-moderate Parkinson's disease patients and 54 healthy controls performed seven working memory tasks tapping selective updating, continuous monitoring, or maintenance of currently active information. Self-ratings of everyday cognition, depression and apathy symptoms, as well as screenings of global cognitive impairment were also collected. The data were analysed using structural equation modelling. Of the three working memory domains, only selective updating was directly predictive of Parkinson's disease group membership. More widespread working memory deficits were observed only in relation to global cognitive impairment in Parkinson's disease patients. Self-rated everyday cognition or psychiatric symptoms were not linked to working memory performance but correlated with each other. Our findings suggest that working memory has a rather limited role in the clinical manifestation of Parkinson's disease. Nevertheless, due to its elementary link to striatal function, the updating component of working memory could be a candidate for a cognitive marker of Parkinson's disease also in patients who are otherwise cognitively well-preserved.
ISSN:1663-4365
1663-4365
DOI:10.3389/fnagi.2020.572037