Reduced habitual intrusions: an early marker for Parkinson's disease?
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Reduced habitual intrusions: an early marker for Parkinson's disease?
IRAS ID
170626
Contact name
Oliver Bandmann
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS FT
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 8 months, 0 days
Research summary
There are two fundamental modes of action control in the brain, a habit system which learns fixed stimulus-response relations through repetition, and a goal-directed system which selects actions based on the predicted value of their outcome. Many of our actions are dealt with by the habit system; automatic behaviours such as maintaining balance, placing the feet while walking, and many aspects of driving for example. Parkinson’s disease can be understood as a dysfunction of the brain's "habit system". PD is known to involve the death of DA cells. Recently it has been shown that this degeneration begins in those regions of the brain which support the habit system, leaving the goal-directed system comparatively intact. This re-conceptualization suggests a surprising prediction - it may be possible to identify early PD by measuring the strength of this habit system. One way of doing this is by the precise measurement of 'Action slips' - errors in habitual control, involving inappropriate or mistimed behaviours. If habitual control is compromised in PD we predict a relative reduction in this kind of error. This is a highly specific prediction, since PD is normally characterised by an increase in all types of motor errors. Preliminary data on typing confirmed this prediction and the project will explore this finding further, thereby laying the foundation for the using measurement of error behaviour as a behavioural signature of PD. Furthermore, the tests we will apply are intended to detect PD at stages earlier than currently.
REC name
South Central - Oxford C Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/SC/0034
Date of REC Opinion
14 Jan 2015
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion