Emotional Flanker Compatibility in Patients with Non-Demented Parkinson’s Disease and Healthy Ageing

Context: Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease caused by degeneration of the dopaminesynthesizing cells of the mesostriatal-mesocortical neuronal pathway,which affects motor pathway in basal ganglia (BG). Neuropsychological studies showed that degeneration of dopamine neuroreceptor also affects nigrostriatal and mesocortical limbic system which is associated with emotional processing in PD. However, very few studies have identified deficit in selective attention in patients with PD patients except in patients with PD-MCI (PD-Mild Cognitive Impairment) or PD-D (PD-Dementia). Thus, the present study examined the effect of emotion on attentional processing in PD and matched control. Emotional flanker task was designed by using pictures selected from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) based on their normative valence ratings. Results revealed that attentional processing of emotional images were slower in PD patients in comparison to matched healthy control.