Attention and Eye Movement in Parkinson's Disease

Summary

The goal of this observational and interventional study is to understand how therapeutic deep brain stimulation (DBS) affects attention, perception and cognition in participants with Parkinson's disease (PD) and non-PD movement disorders, including essential tremor (ET) and dystonia (DT). The main questions it aims to answer are:

* Does impaired control of attention and eye movement in PD alter how social cues are perceived and interpreted?
* Does therapeutic DBS improve or worsen attentional and perceptual deficits for social cues in PD, ET and DT?
* Can DBS be optimized to restore normal attentional control in PD while remaining an effective therapy for other aspects of the disorder.
* What do parts of the brain targeted by DBS contribute to the control of attention?

Using an eye tracking camera, investigators will study how participants with PD, ET and DT look at and perceive facial expressions of emotion before and after starting DBS therapy, in comparison to a group of healthy participants without ET, PD, DT or DBS. Participants with PD, ET and DT will see and rate morphed facial expressions on a computer screen in three conditions:

* Before starting DBS therapy (over approximately 1 hour).
* In the operating room, during the standard procedure to implant DBS electrodes, while the participant is awake (for no more than 15 minutes).
* After starting DBS therapy, with brief experimental changes of DBS stimulation level and frequency (over approximately 1 hour).

Conditions

• Essential Tremor
• Parkinson's Disease (PD)
• Dystonias

Interventions

OTHER

Normal therapeutic DBS

Participants will receive deep brain stimulation delivered at the clinically determined therapeutic frequency and current over approximately 20 min.

OTHER

Reduced current DBS

Participants will receive deep brain stimulation delivered at the clinically determined therapeutic frequency and reduced (50%) current over approximately 20 minutes.

OTHER

Reduced frequency DBS

Participants will receive deep brain stimulation delivered at the clinically determined therapeutic current and reduced (4 Hz) frequency over approximately 20 min.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)

  collaborator NIH

• University of Nebraska

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Christopher K Kovach, PhD · University of Nebraska

Study Design

Allocation

NA

Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

NONE

Model

SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age

19 Years

Max Age

90 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2025-09-22

Primary Completion

2028-02-29

Completion

2028-08-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations