Central fatigue and attentional processing in Parkinson’s disease: An event-related potentials study

• Published in: Clinical neurophysiology 2019-05, Vol.130 (5), p.692-700
• Main Authors: Pauletti, Caterina, Mannarelli, Daniela, Locuratolo, Nicoletta, Currà, Antonio, Marinelli, Lucio, Fattapposta, Francesco
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aged; Attention; Attention - physiology; Brain - physiopathology; Cognition - physiology; Cognitive functions; Cross-Sectional Studies; Electroencephalography; ERPs; Evoked Potentials - physiology; Fatigue; Fatigue - physiopathology; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; P300; Parkinson Disease - physiopathology; Parkinson’s disease; Reaction Time - physiology
• ISSN: 1388-2457; 1872-8952
• DOI: 10.1016/j.clinph.2019.01.017

•P3a latency is longer and P3a amplitude lower specifically in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients with fatigue.•Novelty processing, a basic part of adaptive decision-making behavior, is altered in PD with fatigue.•Central fatigue in PD is related to the cognitive domain. To verify whether central fatigue in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) is associated with the presence of a more severe selective cognitive impairment. Twenty-four PD patients without fatigue-PDnF, 11 with fatigue-PDF and 32 healthy volunteers underwent a P300 novelty task that elicits both the P3a and the P3b components. P3b latency was significantly longer in both PDF and PDnF than in controls. P3b amplitudes were comparable between groups. P3a latency and P3a amplitude were respectively significantly longer and lower in PDF than in either PDnF or controls. The ability to discriminate the significant target stimulus, which requires the integrity of the dorsal attentional network and top-down control mechanisms, is compromised in parkinsonian patients irrespective of the presence of fatigue. PDF exhibited a difficulty in attentional orienting to salient novel stimuli, a bottom-up attentional control mechanism that is related to the functioning of the ventral attention network. Fatigue seems to be specifically related to an impairment in the processing of novel stimuli, which is an essential part of adaptive decision-making behavior.