Citation

Vanegas-Arroyave N, Chen DF, Lauro PM, Norato G, Lungu C, Hallett M. Mov. Disord. 2022; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, Movement Disorders Society, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1002/mds.28917

PMID

34997620

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Parkinson's disease (PD) is associated with gait and visuomotor abnormalities, but it is not clear where PD patients look during ambulation.

OBJECTIVE: We sought to characterize the visual areas of interest explored by PD patients, with and without freezing of gait (FOG), compared to healthy volunteers (HVs).

METHODS: Using an eye-tracking device, we compared visual fixation patterns in 17 HVs and 18 PD patients, with and without FOG, during an ambulatory and a nonambulatory, computer-based task.

RESULTS: During ambulation, PD patients with FOG fixated more on proximal areas of the ground and less on the target destination. PD patients without FOG displayed a fixation pattern more similar to that of HVs. Similar patterns were observed during the nonambulatory, computer-based task.

CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest increased dependence on visual feedback from nearby areas in the environment in PD patients with FOG, even in the absence of motor demands. © 2022 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.

Language: en

Keywords

Parkinson's disease; freezing of gait; visual sampling