THE EFFECTS OF PARKINSON’S DISEASE AND ASSOCIATED TREATMENTS ON SACCADIC EYE MOVEMENTS

Eye movements are used as a biomarker of neuropsychiatric and neurological function because they are highly sensitive to cognitive state and impairment. For this reason, eye movements have been used to study Parkinson’s disease in order to bypass the distal limb motor deficits seen with disease progression. This study aimed to use eye movements to correlate disease severity with performance on a battery of cognitive tasks, and ultimately elucidate some of the mechanisms behind the disease. Our initial results were consistent with previous literature, and we found changes in reaction time for patients compared to controls, as well as the same patients on and off medication. Performance was increased on-medication state for the delayed-saccade (DST). Trends in an increase in performance for the memory-guided (MGS) and antisaccade tasks were also seen. A perceptual vortex was uncovered in the antisaccade task, supporting the idea that decrease in cognitive control can impair one’s ability to overcome the sensory pull of a salient stimulus.

Grantor dc:publisher

Wake Forest University

Year dc:date.issued

2016

Author dc:creator

• Rogers, Emily

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10339/62636

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:wakespace.lib.wfu.edu:10339/62636