Impaired Inhibitory Control During Walking in Parkinson’s Disease Patients: An EEG Study

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Sosnik, Ronen^{a; *} | Danziger-Schragenheim, Shani^{b; c} | Possti, Daniel^b | Fahoum, Firas^{d; e} | Giladi, Nir^{b; c; d; e} | Hausdorff, Jeffrey M.^{b; f; g} | Mirelman, Anat^{b; c; e} | Maidan, Inbal^{b; c; e}

Affiliations: [a] Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Holon Institute of Technology (H.I.T.), Holon, Israel | [b] Laboratory of Early Markers of Neurodegeneration (LEMON), Center for the Study of Movement, Cognition, and Mobility, Neurological Institute, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Israel | [c] Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel | [d] Epilepsy and EEG Unit, Neurological Institute, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Israel | [e] Department of Neurology, Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Israel | [f] Department of Physical Therapy, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Israel | [g] Alzheimer’s Disease Center and Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, USA

Correspondence: [*] Correspondence to: Ronen Sosnik, PhD, Faculty of Electronics and Electrical Engineering, Holon Institute of Technology (H.I.T.), 52 Golomb St., Holon 5810201, Israel. E-mail: ronens@hit.ac.il.

Abstract: Background:The performance on a visual Go/NoGo (VGNG) task during walking has been used to evaluate the effect of gait on response inhibition in young and older adults; however, no work has yet included Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients for whom such changes may be even more enhanced. Objective:In this study, we aimed to explore the effect of gait on automatic and cognitive inhibitory control phases in PD patients and the associated changes in neural activity and compared them with young and older adults. Methods:30 PD patients, 30 older adults, and 11 young adults performed a visual Go/NoGo task in a sitting position and during walking on a treadmill while their EEG activity and gait were recorded. Brain electrical activity was evaluated by the amplitude, latency, and scalp distribution of N2 and P300 event related potentials. Mix model analysis was used to examine group and condition effects on task performance and brain activity. Results:The VGNG accuracy rates in PD patients during walking were lower than in young and older adults (F = 5.619, p = 0.006). For all groups, N2 latency during walking was significantly longer than during sitting (p = 0.013). In addition, P300 latency was significantly longer in PD patients (p < 0.001) and older adults (p = 0.032) during walking compared to sitting and during ‘NoGo’ trials compared with ‘Go’ trials. Moreover, the young adults showed the smallest number of electrodes for which a significant differential activation between sit to walk was observed, while PD patients showed the largest with N2 being more strongly manifested in bilateral parietal electrodes during walking and in frontocentral electrodes while seated. Conclusion:The results show that response inhibition during walking is impaired in older subjects and PD patients and that increased cognitive load during dual-task walking relates to significant change in scalp electrical activity, mainly in parietal and frontocentral channels.

Keywords: Parkinson’s disease, inhibitory control, EEG, dual task, gait

DOI: 10.3233/JPD-212776

Journal: Journal of Parkinson's Disease, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 243-256, 2022