PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - N Fournet
AU  - O Moreaud
AU  - J L Roulin
AU  - B Naegele
AU  - J Pellat
TI  - Working memory in medicated patients with Parkinson's disease: the central executive seems to work.
AID  - 10.1136/jnnp.60.3.313
DP  - 1996 Mar 01
TA  - Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry
PG  - 313--317
VI  - 60
IP  - 3
4099  - http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/60/3/313.short
4100  - http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/60/3/313.full
SO  - J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry1996 Mar 01; 60
AB  - OBJECTIVE--To determine whether a deficit of the central executive can explain the attentional deficits of patients with Parkinson's disease. METHODS--Fifteen patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease and 15 controls were given a dual task paradigm minimising motor demands and combining verbal, visual, or spatial span with two conditions of articulatory suppression. RESULTS--Although the spans were systematically lower in medicated parkinsonian patients than in controls, suggesting a decrease of central processing resources, there was no direct evidence for a deficit of the central executive. CONCLUSIONS--A deficit of the central executive either is not an inevitable feature of the disease, or is dependent on the nature of task (visuomotor v cognitive), or is corrected by dopaminergic medication.