Hypometria and Bradykinesia During Drawing Movements in Individuals With Parkinson's Disease

Department

neurology

Document Type

Article

Abstract

To address the hypothesis that Parkinson's disease (PD) patients have deficits in controlling acceleration, a drawing task was used in which target size, frequency, and weight of pen were manipulated. In accordance with previous results, it was found that, relative to controls, PD patients produced movements at the required frequency, but moved significantly slower, produced less acceleration, and drew smaller-than-required stroke sizes. This resulted in smaller-than-required movement amplitudes, suggesting that hypometria and bradykinesia in drawing and/or handwriting are related. Patients were found to perform similarly to controls when the target size was 1 cm. However, their performance became more dissimilar at greater stroke lengths. In addition to the aforementioned effects it was found that movement amplitude error was less when the pen was 20 times heavier than the normal pen and that the increased load may dampen abnormal limb-stiffness characteristics induced by PD.

Medical Subject Headings

neurology

Publication Date

2009

Publication Title

Experimental Brain Research

ISSN

0014-4819

Volume

197

Issue

3

First Page

223

Last Page

233

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1007/s00221-009-1925-z

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