Psychophysiological Correlates in Parkinsonism

Abstract

“Higher integrative” functions and EMG as well as EKG correlates of arousal were studied in the presence of assumed subcortical involvement. Psychomotor, perceptual, and verbal tests were administered to unilaterally affected parkinsonian patients. Severity of rigidity and autonomic nervous system dysfunction were related to adequacy of voluntary movement. EMG arousal was inversely related to left-handed tapping, heart rate was associated with verbal fluency, and EMG arousal was correlated with heart rate. Results corroborated postulated patterning within a construct of general organismic arousal and yielded specific correlations between arousal systems and integrative functions for parkinsonian Ss. Implications for health and disease were discussed.