Background:Parkinson’s Disease(PD)with mild cognitive impairment(MCI)(PD-MCI)represents one of the most dreaded complications for patients with PD and is associated with a higher risk of developing dementia.Although ...Background:Parkinson’s Disease(PD)with mild cognitive impairment(MCI)(PD-MCI)represents one of the most dreaded complications for patients with PD and is associated with a higher risk of developing dementia.Although transcranial direct current stimulation(tDCS)has been demonstrated to improve motor and non-motor symptoms in PD,to date,no study has investigated the effects of tDCS on Theory of Mind(ToM),i.e.,the ability to understand and predict other people’s behaviours,in PD-MCI.Methods:In this randomized,double-blind,sham-controlled study,we applied active tDCS over the medial frontal cortex(MFC)to modulate ToM performance in twenty patients with PD-MCI.Twenty matched healthy controls(HC)were also enrolled and were asked to perform the ToM task without receiving tDCS.Results:In the patients with PD-MCI,i)ToM performance was worse than that in the HC,ii)ToM abilities were poorer in those with fronto-executive difficulties,and iii)tDCS over the MFC led to significant shortening of latency for ToM tasks.Conclusions:We show for the first time that active tDCS over the MFC enhances ToM in patients with PD-MCI,and suggest that non-invasive brain stimulation could be used to ameliorate ToM deficits observed in these patients.展开更多
基金Mauro Adenzato was supported by the University of Turin(Ricerca scientifica finanziata dall’Università“Cognizione sociale e attaccamento in popolazioni cliniche e non cliniche”)Ivan Enrici was supported by University of Turin grants(Ricerca scientifica finanziata dall’Università“Linea Generale”and“Linea Giovani”).
文摘Background:Parkinson’s Disease(PD)with mild cognitive impairment(MCI)(PD-MCI)represents one of the most dreaded complications for patients with PD and is associated with a higher risk of developing dementia.Although transcranial direct current stimulation(tDCS)has been demonstrated to improve motor and non-motor symptoms in PD,to date,no study has investigated the effects of tDCS on Theory of Mind(ToM),i.e.,the ability to understand and predict other people’s behaviours,in PD-MCI.Methods:In this randomized,double-blind,sham-controlled study,we applied active tDCS over the medial frontal cortex(MFC)to modulate ToM performance in twenty patients with PD-MCI.Twenty matched healthy controls(HC)were also enrolled and were asked to perform the ToM task without receiving tDCS.Results:In the patients with PD-MCI,i)ToM performance was worse than that in the HC,ii)ToM abilities were poorer in those with fronto-executive difficulties,and iii)tDCS over the MFC led to significant shortening of latency for ToM tasks.Conclusions:We show for the first time that active tDCS over the MFC enhances ToM in patients with PD-MCI,and suggest that non-invasive brain stimulation could be used to ameliorate ToM deficits observed in these patients.
