Johnson Andrew M, Almeida Quincy J, Stough Con, Thompson James C, Singarayer Rene, Jog Mandar S
Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Western Ontario, Ont., N6A 3K7, London, Canada.
Neuropsychologia. 2004;42(5):577-83. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2003.10.011.
Inspection time (IT) is a simple information processing paradigm dependent on a participant's ability to identify physical properties of a stimulus presented for a specified time interval. In contrast with reaction time (RT) studies, the dependent variable of interest in IT is not related to the motoric speed with which the individual is able to respond, but rather the minimum presentation time necessary for participants to reliably identify physical properties of the stimulus. It is well documented that individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD) experience significant impairment on tests of simple RT, but it is unclear whether such deficits can be interpreted as 'pure' slowness of information processing, or a delay in the selection and output of a motor response. In the first experiment described here, a sample of 'optimally medicated' PD patients was compared with an age-matched control group, on an IT task. Results of this experiment suggested that individuals with PD required significantly longer stimulus presentation times than healthy participants. The second experiment compared a sample of PD patients (tested both "ON" and "OFF" their typical dopaminergic medications), with an age-matched control group, on the same test of IT. Results again indicated a significant IT deficit in participants with PD, and suggested that these deficits do not significantly resolve with levodopa treatment. Overall, the results of these two experiments suggest that information processing deficits associated with PD are distinct from motor impairment. These findings are further discussed in terms of existing neurochemical models of information processing ability.
检查时间（IT）是一种简单的信息处理范式，它取决于参与者识别在特定时间间隔内呈现的刺激的物理属性的能力。与反应时间（RT）研究不同，IT中感兴趣的因变量与个体能够做出反应的运动速度无关，而是与参与者可靠识别刺激的物理属性所需的最短呈现时间有关。有充分的文献记载，帕金森病（PD）患者在简单反应时间测试中存在显著损害，但尚不清楚这种缺陷是否可以解释为“纯粹”的信息处理速度减慢，还是运动反应选择和输出的延迟。在此描述的第一个实验中，将一组“药物治疗最佳”的PD患者样本与年龄匹配的对照组进行了一项IT任务的比较。该实验结果表明，PD患者比健康参与者需要显著更长的刺激呈现时间。第二个实验将一组PD患者样本（在服用和未服用其典型多巴胺能药物的情况下进行测试）与年龄匹配的对照组进行了相同的IT测试比较。结果再次表明PD患者存在显著的IT缺陷，并表明这些缺陷在左旋多巴治疗后并未得到显著改善。总体而言，这两个实验的结果表明，与PD相关的信息处理缺陷与运动障碍不同。这些发现将根据现有的信息处理能力神经化学模型进行进一步讨论。
