Abstract
Monitoring one’s actions is essential for goal-directed performance. In the event-related potential (ERP), errors are followed by fronto-centrally distributed negativities. These error(-related) negativity (Ne/ERN) amplitudes are often found to be attenuated in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) compared to healthy controls (HC). Although Ne/ERN has been proposed to be related to dopaminergic neuronal activity, previous research did not find evidence for effects of dopaminergic medication on Ne/ERN amplitudes in PD. We examined 13 PD patients “on” and “off” dopaminergic medication. Their response-locked ERP amplitudes (obtained on correct [Nc/CRN] and error [Ne/ERN] trials of a flanker task) were compared to those of 13 HC who were tested twice as well, without receiving dopaminergic medication. While PD patients committed more errors than HC, error rates were not significantly modulated by dopaminergic medication. PD patients showed reduced Ne/ERN amplitudes relative to HC; however, this attenuation of response-locked ERP amplitudes was not specific to errors in this study. PD-related attenuation of response-locked ERP amplitudes was most pronounced when PD patients were on medication. These results suggest overdosing of dopaminergic pathways that are relatively spared in PD, but that are related to the generation of the Ne/ERN, notably pathways targeted on the medial prefrontal cortex.
Highlights
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disease, with an incidence of 8–18 per 100,000 person-years[1]
We compared response-locked event-related potential (ERP) waveforms observed during the commission of errors in a flanker task in PD patients when they were on and off dopaminergic medication
negativities. These error(-related) negativity (Ne/ERN) amplitudes were reduced in PD patients as compared to healthy control participants, and this amplitude reduction appears to be most pronounced when PD patients are under dopaminergic medication
Summary
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disease, with an incidence of 8–18 per 100,000 person-years[1]. In the event-related potential (ERP)[6], erroneous actions are typically followed by a fronto-centrally distributed negativity[7,8] This error(-related) negativity (Ne/ERN) is considered as a neural correlate of performance monitoring[4]. The assessment of patients with PD offers the possibility to investigate the influence of dopaminergic medication on ERP correlates of cognitive functions in a clinically relevant context. Only one study has compared Ne/ERN amplitudes in PD patients in a within-subjects design between on and off medication states, and it did not find a difference between these two conditions[15]. It is possible that the doses of dopaminergic medication that were administered to these patients were not sufficient to exert a detectable effect on the Ne/ERN amplitude
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