Continuous force measurements reveal no inhibitory control deficits in Parkinson's disease

Abstract

Suppression of unwanted motor responses can be disrupted by Parkinsons disease. People with Parkinsons (PwP) can show maladaptive reward-driven behaviours in the form of impulse control behaviours, which are associated with use of the dopaminergic treatments used to alleviate the motor symptoms of the disease. However, the effects of Parkinsons itself on impulsive behaviour and control are unclear - empirical studies have yielded mixed findings, and some imaging studies have shown a functional deficit in the absence of a measurable change in behaviour. Here, we investigated the effects of Parkinsons on response activation and control by studying the dynamics of response in standard inhibitory control tasks - the Stop Signal and Simon tasks - using a continuous measure of response force. Our results are largely in favour of the conclusion that response inhibition appears to be intact in PwP, even when using a more sensitive measure of behavioural control relative to traditional button-press measures. Our findings provide some clarity as to the effects of Parkinsons on response inhibition and show continuous response force measurement can provide a sensitive means of detecting erroneous response activity in PwP, which could also be generalised to studying related processes in other populations. Open dataData and analysis can be found on the Open Science Framework (osf.io/kx6h3/) Pre-print templateWiernik, B.M. (2019, October 11). Preprint templates. osf.io/hsv6a/