Information processing deficits in Parkinson's disease during movement.

The capacity to process information during movement selection and execution was studied in Parkinsonian patients and controls in a task involving movement of a hand-held stylus between two targets whose size and separation could be systematicaly varied. Movement time and accuracy were evaluated when the size and required accuracy of movements were changed to modify movement difficulty. Movement time and inaccuracy of patients with Parkinson's disease were exaggerated by increasing target separation so as to increase movement extent (target size held constant) or by decreasing target size (target separation held constant). The fact that these changes in task difficulty caused greater deterioration of performance for patients than for controls is consistent with previous studies indicating that Parkinsonian patients have deficits in executing high-velocity movements. These data also show that performance deficits by Parkinsonian patients can be brought out by increasing movement difficulty through requiring increased movement accuracy. These findings are interpreted in relation to the relative contribution of deficits in movement execution vs motor programming in the motor disorders of Parkinson's disease.