VISUOSPATIAL ABILITY OF PARKINSONIANS AND ELDERLY ADULTS IN LOCATION MEMORY TASKS

Two experiments addressed the question of the spatial deficits of Park inson disease (PD) patients, using a spatial location task which varie d the characteristics of the task along an effortful continuum. In the more effortful task, 11 PD patients, 10 elderly control subjects, and 13 young control subjects were given 3 min to learn the layout of 12 places labeled on a map and then reproduce it. In the less effortful t ask, 9 new PD patients, 9 new elderly control subjects, and 10 new you ng control subjects were given 3 min to learn the layout of 12 black d ots and then asked to reproduce it. In both cases the task was repeate d twice. The results showed that PD patients were less accurate than y oung and elderly control subjects in the less effortful task. In contr ast, the performances of PD patients and elderly control subjects were equivalent in the more effortful task. These results support the idea of a specific visuospatial deficit in Parkinson's disease. Moreover, the deficit in effortful tasks seems to be due to normal aging. (C) 19 97 Academic Press.