Affiliations: Dipartimento di Psicologia, Universitè
Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy | Carlo Besta Neurological Institute, Milan, Italy | Istituto di Neurologia, Università Cattolica
del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy | INSERM – UPMC UMRS 975, Brain and Spine
Institute, Groupe Hospitalier Pitié-Salpêtrière, Paris,
France | AP-HP, Groupe Hospitalier
Pitié-Salpêtrière, Fédération de Neurologie,
Paris, France
Note: [] Corresponding author: Paolo Bartolomeo, Centre de Recherche de
l'Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle épinière, Inserm U975;
UPMC-Paris6, UMR_S 975; CNRS UMR 7225, Hôpital de la
Salpêtrière, Bâtiment ICM, 75651 Paris Cedex 13, France.
Tel.: +33 1 57 27 41 40 ou 1 57 27 41 66 (sécr.); E-mail
paolo.bartolomeo@gmail.com
Abstract: We tested the efficiency of three attentional systems (spatial
orienting, phasic alerting and executive control) in patients with Parkinson's
disease (PD), by using a modified version of the Attention Network Test, which
employs acoustic tones to modulate phasic alertness. PD patients were generally
slower than age-matched controls, but they showed a similar pattern of effects
and interactions. Responses were faster with congruent than with incongruent
stimuli (executive control), with valid visual cues than with invalid or no
cues (orienting), and when acoustic tones preceded the target (alerting). This
last effect was significantly larger in PD patients than in controls. We
concluded that, for the present group of patients, the activity of attentional
networks was relatively normal, if slowed. Slowed responses in PD may be
improved by the use of acoustic stimuli, with potential clinical
implications.
Keywords: Attention, alerting, orienting, executive control
