A neurocomputational account of cognitive deficits in Parkinson's disease

TitleA neurocomputational account of cognitive deficits in Parkinson's disease
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2012
AuthorsHelie, S., Paul E. J., & F Ashby G.
JournalNeuropsychologia
Volume50
Issue9
Pagination2290-2302
Date Published2012 Jul
ISSN1873-3514
KeywordsAging, Algorithms, Brain, Cognition Disorders, Computer Simulation, Dopamine, Humans, Learning, Linear Models, Models, Neurological, Models, Statistical, Neuropsychological Tests, Nonlinear Dynamics, Parkinson Disease, Psychomotor Performance, Weather
Abstract

Parkinson's disease (PD) is caused by the accelerated death of dopamine (DA) producing neurons. Numerous studies documenting cognitive deficits of PD patients have revealed impairments in a variety of tasks related to memory, learning, visuospatial skills, and attention. While there have been several studies documenting cognitive deficits of PD patients, very few computational models have been proposed. In this article, we use the COVIS model of category learning to simulate DA depletion and show that the model suffers from cognitive symptoms similar to those of human participants affected by PD. Specifically, DA depletion in COVIS produced deficits in rule-based categorization, non-linear information-integration categorization, probabilistic classification, rule maintenance, and rule switching. These were observed by simulating results from younger controls, older controls, PD patients, and severe PD patients in five well-known tasks. Differential performance among the different age groups and clinical populations was modeled simply by changing the amount of DA available in the model. This suggests that COVIS may not only be an adequate model of the simulated tasks and phenomena but also more generally of the role of DA in these tasks and phenomena.

DOI10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2012.05.033
Alternate JournalNeuropsychologia
PubMed ID22683450
PubMed Central IDPMC4220550
Grant ListP01 NS044393 / NS / NINDS NIH HHS / United States
P01NS044393 / NS / NINDS NIH HHS / United States