The effects of startle and non-startle auditory stimuli on wrist flexion movement in Parkinson's disease

Startle stimuli lead to shorter reaction times in control subjects and Parkinson's disease (PD) patients. However, non-startle stimuli also enhance movement initiation in PD. We wanted to examine whether a startle-triggered movement would retain similar kinematic and EMG-related characteristics...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Bello, Olalla, Márquez, G., Sánchez, José A., Morenilla, Luis, Fernández del Olmo, Miguel, López Alonso, Virginia, Valls Solé, Josep
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2013
País:España
Institución:Universidad Católica San Antonio de Murcia (UCAM)
Repositorio:RIUCAM. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad Católica San Antonio de Murcia
OAI Identifier:oai:repositorio.ucam.edu:10952/3051
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10952/3051
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Parkinson
Intersensory facilitation
Startle
Wrist flexion
Descripción
Sumario:Startle stimuli lead to shorter reaction times in control subjects and Parkinson's disease (PD) patients. However, non-startle stimuli also enhance movement initiation in PD. We wanted to examine whether a startle-triggered movement would retain similar kinematic and EMG-related characteristics compared to one induced by a non-startle external cue in PD patients. In this study we investigated the electromyography pattern and the reaction time during a wrist flexion movement in response to three different stimuli: a visual imperative stimulus; visual stimulus simultaneous with a non-startle auditory stimulus and with a startle auditory stimulus. Ten PD patients and ten aged matched controls participated in this study. The reaction times were faster for startle and non-startle stimuli in comparison with the visual imperative stimulus, in both patients and control subjects. The startle cue induced a faster reaction than the non-startle cue. The electromyography pattern remained unchanged across the conditions. The results suggest that the startle reaction effect for upper limb movements are unimpaired in PD patients and has different characteristics than the effect of non-startle stimuli.