THE PHONOLOGICAL LOOP IN MEDICATED PATIENTS WITH PARKINSONS-DISEASE -PRESENCE OF PHONOLOGICAL SIMILARITY AND WORD-LENGTH EFFECTS

Objective-To test the verbal subsystem of Baddeley's working memory mo del (the phonological loop) in patients with Parkinson's disease. Meth ods-Fifteen patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease and 15 contro ls were tested with a span paradigm to assess the effects reflecting t he functioning of the phonological loop: the phonological similarity e ffect (in verbal and visual presentation), and the word length effect (in visual presentation). Results and conclusions-The patients did not show any dysfunction of the phonological loop, reflected by the prese nce of phonological similarity and word length effects, but had lower spans than controls. The implications of these results for the working memory model are discussed.