Parkinson's Disease Alters Patient's Ability to Learn from Rewards

Posted on: Tuesday, 30 June 2009, 15:20 CDT
http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/...urce=r_health#

A new neuropsychological memory test is helping to uncover how Parkinson's disease can alter people's ability to learn about the consequences of the choices they make. The test was developed by Dr. Mark Gluck, professor of neuroscience at the Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience at Rutgers University, Newark, working with co-researchers at Rutgers, New York University, and in Hungary.

As reported in a forthcoming article in the journal Brain (advanced access published May 4, 2009 -- doi:10.1093/brain/awp094), Gluck and co-researchers Nikoletta Bodi and Szabolcs Keri of Semmelweis University, Hungary, found that non-medicated patients in the early stages of Parkinson’s were selectively impaired at learning from reward.

Patients in Hungary were tested using a novel feedback-learning task developed by Gluck and his colleagues: Catherine E. Myers, research professor, Rutgers University, Newark; and Nathaniel Daw, assistant professor, New York University. The research was supported by a Dekker Foundation Award from the Bachman-Strauss Dystonia and Parkinson Foundation