Pekrul Max, Seer Caroline, Lange Florian, Dressler Dirk, Kopp Bruno
Department of Neurology, Hannover Medical School, Carl-Neuberg-Straße 1, 30625 Hannover, Germany.
Movement Control & Neuroplasticity Research Group, Department of Movement Sciences, KU Leuven, Tervuursevest 101, 3001 Leuven, Belgium.
Brain Sci. 2020 Feb 1;10(2):76. doi: 10.3390/brainsci10020076.
Isolated dystonia manifests with involuntary muscle hyperactivity, but the extent of cognitive impairment remains controversial. We examined the executive functions in blepharospasm while accounting for motor symptom-related distractions as a factor often limiting the interpretability of neuropsychological studies in dystonia. Our control group comprised of patients with hemifacial spasm, which is a condition producing similar motor symptoms without any central nervous system pathology. Nineteen patients with blepharospasm and 22 patients with hemifacial spasm completed a flanker task. Stimulus congruency on the current trial, on the preceding trial, and a response sequence served as independent variables. We analyzed the response time and accuracy. Gross overall group differences were not discernible. While congruency, congruency sequence, and response sequence exerted the expected effects, no group differences emerged with regard to these variables. A difference between patients with blepharospasm and those with hemifacial spasm consisted in longer reaction times when responses had to be repeated following stimulus incongruency on the preceding trial. We conclude that patients with blepharospasm seem to have difficulties in repeating their responses when incongruency on preceding trials interferes with habit formation or other forms of fast routes to action. Our specific finding may provide an opportunity to study altered basal ganglia plasticity in focal dystonia.
孤立性肌张力障碍表现为不自主的肌肉活动亢进，但认知障碍的程度仍存在争议。我们在考虑运动症状相关干扰因素的情况下，研究了眼睑痉挛患者的执行功能，该干扰因素常限制肌张力障碍神经心理学研究的可解释性。我们的对照组由面肌痉挛患者组成，面肌痉挛是一种产生类似运动症状但无任何中枢神经系统病变的疾病。19例眼睑痉挛患者和22例面肌痉挛患者完成了一项侧翼任务。当前试验、前一试验的刺激一致性以及反应序列作为自变量。我们分析了反应时间和准确性。总体组间差异不明显。虽然一致性、一致性序列和反应序列产生了预期的效果，但在这些变量方面未出现组间差异。眼睑痉挛患者与面肌痉挛患者的一个差异在于，在前一试验中刺激不一致后需要重复反应时，反应时间更长。我们得出结论，当先前试验中的不一致干扰习惯形成或其他快速行动途径时，眼睑痉挛患者似乎在重复反应方面存在困难。我们的具体发现可能为研究局灶性肌张力障碍中基底神经节可塑性改变提供机会。
