EAN 2026 | Auditory cueing modulates motor performance and brain activity in Parkinson’s disease
Andrea Gardoni, PhD(c), Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Milan, Italy, discusses a study using simultaneous kinematic measurements and fMRI during a finger-tapping task to investigate how auditory cues affect motor performance and brain activity in Parkinson’s disease. Auditory cues improved movement amplitude and its maintenance over time, while increasing pallidal activity and reducing supplementary motor area activity. This interview took place at the 12th Congress of the European Academy of Neurology (EAN) in Geneva, Switzerland.
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Transcript
As we know, cues are often used in Parkinson’s disease to improve motor performance. Nevertheless, its neural mechanisms are not yet completely understood, also given the difficulty of collecting kinematic and brain activity data together. To do so, we used an optical fiber globe to collect kinematic data of a finger-tapping task during the fMRI. And we found that during a self-paced finger-tapping, patients with Parkinson’s disease showed the typical alteration of bradykinesia so reduced speed and amplitude and a tendency to reduce amplitude with task repetition and we also found a reduced activity of pallidum while during the task with auditory cues we found an increased amplitude and particularly an improved ability to maintain amplitude with task repetition together with an increased activity of pallidum and a reduced activity of supplementary motor areas...
As we know, cues are often used in Parkinson’s disease to improve motor performance. Nevertheless, its neural mechanisms are not yet completely understood, also given the difficulty of collecting kinematic and brain activity data together. To do so, we used an optical fiber globe to collect kinematic data of a finger-tapping task during the fMRI. And we found that during a self-paced finger-tapping, patients with Parkinson’s disease showed the typical alteration of bradykinesia so reduced speed and amplitude and a tendency to reduce amplitude with task repetition and we also found a reduced activity of pallidum while during the task with auditory cues we found an increased amplitude and particularly an improved ability to maintain amplitude with task repetition together with an increased activity of pallidum and a reduced activity of supplementary motor areas. All these results together support the stabilizing role of cues that may not only support the motor function, but also optimize brain activity. If you’re interested in the topic, we just published this paper on NPJ Parkinson’s Disease.
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