PRECUED SHIFTING OF ATTENTION BETWEEN COGNITIVE SETS IN PARKINSON PATIENTS

The precueing paradigm developed by Posner has been used to examine vi suospatial shifting of attention. In the current study, we modified su ch a paradigm so that it could be studied in nonvisuospatial domains a nd its component processes of disengagement, movement, and engagement could be analyzed in a similar fashion to the visuospatial domains. 14 patients with Parkinson's disease and 14 normal controls matched for age, sex, handedness, and years of education served as subjects. The s peed of shifting attention was measured using the cost and benefit ana lysis. Analyses showed an over-all slowness in reaction rime of patien ts with Parkinson's disease compared to the control group but without a concomitant slowness to engage, shift, and disengage their attention .