Neurocognitive Aspects of Tourette Syndrome and Related Disorders

Abstract

One of the top priorities, for current research in Gilles de la Tourette Syndrome (GTS), is to disentangle the intricate interactions between regions of the frontal cortex and the basal ganglia. This approach will reveal how these interactions act in concert to regulate motor, emotional, and cognitive action plans (Keen-Kim & Freimer, 2006; Leckman, 2002; State, 2011). Another key issue is the understanding of these brain mechanisms with GTS in the presence of obsessive-compulsive disorders (OCD) (Gaze, Kepley, & Walkup, 2006). The heuristic value of our proposed approach resides in the fact that cognitive and cerebral functions are two salient features easily quantified with non invasive protocols. As proposed by Swain et al., (Swain, Scahill, Lombroso, King, & Leckman, 2007) ‘’a determined effort to explore the electrophysiology of this disorder using EEG/MEG recordings is our next best step’’. We will first review the current state of the literature regarding specific cerebral structures underlying GTS symptoms. Secondly, we will expose a strategy to integrate brain imaging, electrophysiology and neuropsychology in the exploration of the GTS brain in action. Third, we will investigate clinical and phenomenological aspects of comorbidity in GTS patients. We will thus, expose a functional method based on multimodal assessments to characterize the relationship between tic expression, brain activity and different levels of cognitive processing such as motor activation, memory and emotions.