Exploring Brain-Body Interactions in Parkinson’s Disease: A Study on Dual-Task Performance

Parkinson’s disease (PD) leads to impairments in cortical structures, resulting in motor and cognitive symptoms. Given the connection between brain structure deficits and physical symptoms in PD, assessing objective brain activity and body motion could provide valuable insights for PD assessment and understanding its underlying mechanisms. This study aimed to explore the connection between brain activity and body movement metrics in a group of individuals with PD and an age-matched healthy control (HC) group. The goal was to evaluate the feasibility of using brain and body motion measures for assessing PD. Participants from both groups underwent the Timed Up and Go (TUG) test under three conditions: simple TUG, cognitive dual-task TUG (CDTUG), and motor dual-task TUG (MDTUG). Key findings include: Both groups exhibited similar activation patterns in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) during the simple TUG, with motor performance differences observed in cadence. During CDTUG, both groups showed the highest PFC activation with more pronounced motor impairments, such as higher stride and step time. During MDTUG, the HC group exhibited significantly higher PFC activity compared to the PD group. While both groups had similar patterns of activation in PFC area while TUG and CDTUG, they showed distinct behaviour during MDTUG. These results suggest that motor and cognitive impairments in PD are more pronounced during complex activities. While MDTUG effectively differentiated between PD and HC groups, the findings indicate that both cognitive and motor dual-tasks are essential for comprehensive PD assessment.