Emotional Valence and Arousal in Parkinson's Disease
Author Information
Author(s): Limsoontarakul Sunsern, Campbell Meghan C., Black Kevin J.
Primary Institution: Washington University School of Medicine
Hypothesis
Spontaneous variation in self-rated emotional state would be accompanied by statistically significant changes in brain activity.
Conclusion
The study demonstrates that perfusion MRI can effectively capture spontaneous fluctuations in emotional states over time in patients with Parkinson's disease.
Supporting Evidence
- Emotional valence correlated positively with rCBF in several brain regions.
- Valence correlated negatively with rCBF in striatum and subgenual cingulate cortex.
- Arousal correlated positively with rCBF in clusters including claustrum-thalamus-ventral striatum.
Takeaway
This study looked at how people's feelings change over time and found that brain activity changes with those feelings in people with Parkinson's disease.
Methodology
Self-rated emotional valence and arousal scores, and regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) were measured using perfusion MRI across multiple sessions.
Potential Biases
The study did not include healthy control subjects, which limits the ability to generalize findings.
Limitations
Mood ratings were not done during the scanning session, which may have added noise to the results.
Participant Demographics
All participants were Caucasian, right-handed, with a mean age of 60.8 years, and 13 were male.
Statistical Information
P-Value
0.02
Statistical Significance
p<0.05
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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