RATE OF INFORMATION-PROCESSING IN PATIENTS WITH WILSONS-DISEASE

This study investigated the rate of information processing, independen t of motor speed, in neurologically affected Wilson's disease (WD) pat ients. Two scanning tasks based on the Sternberg item-recognition para digm were administered to 17 neurologically symptomatic WD patients an d 17 normal control (NC) subjects. Although WD subjects do have longer response latencies than NC subjects, their rate of information proces sing is the same as the rate of the NC subjects. The longer response l atencies are attributable to their motor deficits. The clear impact of motor impairment on test performance underlines the necessity for spe cialized assessment measures that can accurately reflect the cognitive abilities of motor-impaired patients. These findings suggest that Wil son's disease is not characterized by slowed information processing.