The effect of motivation on movement: a study of bradykinesia in Parkinson's disease.

<h4>Background</h4>Bradykinesia is a cardinal feature of Parkinson's disease (PD). Despite its disabling impact, the precise cause of this symptom remains elusive. Recent thinking suggests that bradykinesia may be more than simply a manifestation of motor slowness, and may in part r...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Tamara Shiner, Ben Seymour, Mkael Symmonds, Peter Dayan, Kailash P Bhatia, Raymond J Dolan
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2012-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0047138&type=printable
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849727489808531456
author Tamara Shiner
Ben Seymour
Mkael Symmonds
Peter Dayan
Kailash P Bhatia
Raymond J Dolan
author_facet Tamara Shiner
Ben Seymour
Mkael Symmonds
Peter Dayan
Kailash P Bhatia
Raymond J Dolan
author_sort Tamara Shiner
collection DOAJ
description <h4>Background</h4>Bradykinesia is a cardinal feature of Parkinson's disease (PD). Despite its disabling impact, the precise cause of this symptom remains elusive. Recent thinking suggests that bradykinesia may be more than simply a manifestation of motor slowness, and may in part reflect a specific deficit in the operation of motivational vigour in the striatum. In this paper we test the hypothesis that movement time in PD can be modulated by the specific nature of the motivational salience of possible action-outcomes.<h4>Methodology/principal findings</h4>We developed a novel movement time paradigm involving winnable rewards and avoidable painful electrical stimuli. The faster the subjects performed an action the more likely they were to win money (in appetitive blocks) or to avoid a painful shock (in aversive blocks). We compared PD patients when OFF dopaminergic medication with controls. Our key finding is that PD patients OFF dopaminergic medication move faster to avoid aversive outcomes (painful electric shocks) than to reap rewarding outcomes (winning money) and, unlike controls, do not speed up in the current trial having failed to win money in the previous one. We also demonstrate that sensitivity to distracting stimuli is valence specific.<h4>Conclusions/significance</h4>We suggest this pattern of results can be explained in terms of low dopamine levels in the Parkinsonian state leading to an insensitivity to appetitive outcomes, and thus an inability to modulate movement speed in the face of rewards. By comparison, sensitivity to aversive stimuli is relatively spared. Our findings point to a rarely described property of bradykinesia in PD, namely its selective regulation by everyday outcomes.
format Article
id doaj-art-c58208d7ea8643d5a18beee214c2e96e
institution DOAJ
issn 1932-6203
language English
publishDate 2012-01-01
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
record_format Article
series PLoS ONE
spelling doaj-art-c58208d7ea8643d5a18beee214c2e96e2025-08-20T03:09:49ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032012-01-01710e4713810.1371/journal.pone.0047138The effect of motivation on movement: a study of bradykinesia in Parkinson's disease.Tamara ShinerBen SeymourMkael SymmondsPeter DayanKailash P BhatiaRaymond J Dolan<h4>Background</h4>Bradykinesia is a cardinal feature of Parkinson's disease (PD). Despite its disabling impact, the precise cause of this symptom remains elusive. Recent thinking suggests that bradykinesia may be more than simply a manifestation of motor slowness, and may in part reflect a specific deficit in the operation of motivational vigour in the striatum. In this paper we test the hypothesis that movement time in PD can be modulated by the specific nature of the motivational salience of possible action-outcomes.<h4>Methodology/principal findings</h4>We developed a novel movement time paradigm involving winnable rewards and avoidable painful electrical stimuli. The faster the subjects performed an action the more likely they were to win money (in appetitive blocks) or to avoid a painful shock (in aversive blocks). We compared PD patients when OFF dopaminergic medication with controls. Our key finding is that PD patients OFF dopaminergic medication move faster to avoid aversive outcomes (painful electric shocks) than to reap rewarding outcomes (winning money) and, unlike controls, do not speed up in the current trial having failed to win money in the previous one. We also demonstrate that sensitivity to distracting stimuli is valence specific.<h4>Conclusions/significance</h4>We suggest this pattern of results can be explained in terms of low dopamine levels in the Parkinsonian state leading to an insensitivity to appetitive outcomes, and thus an inability to modulate movement speed in the face of rewards. By comparison, sensitivity to aversive stimuli is relatively spared. Our findings point to a rarely described property of bradykinesia in PD, namely its selective regulation by everyday outcomes.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0047138&type=printable
spellingShingle Tamara Shiner
Ben Seymour
Mkael Symmonds
Peter Dayan
Kailash P Bhatia
Raymond J Dolan
The effect of motivation on movement: a study of bradykinesia in Parkinson's disease.
PLoS ONE
title The effect of motivation on movement: a study of bradykinesia in Parkinson's disease.
title_full The effect of motivation on movement: a study of bradykinesia in Parkinson's disease.
title_fullStr The effect of motivation on movement: a study of bradykinesia in Parkinson's disease.
title_full_unstemmed The effect of motivation on movement: a study of bradykinesia in Parkinson's disease.
title_short The effect of motivation on movement: a study of bradykinesia in Parkinson's disease.
title_sort effect of motivation on movement a study of bradykinesia in parkinson s disease
url https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0047138&type=printable
work_keys_str_mv AT tamarashiner theeffectofmotivationonmovementastudyofbradykinesiainparkinsonsdisease
AT benseymour theeffectofmotivationonmovementastudyofbradykinesiainparkinsonsdisease
AT mkaelsymmonds theeffectofmotivationonmovementastudyofbradykinesiainparkinsonsdisease
AT peterdayan theeffectofmotivationonmovementastudyofbradykinesiainparkinsonsdisease
AT kailashpbhatia theeffectofmotivationonmovementastudyofbradykinesiainparkinsonsdisease
AT raymondjdolan theeffectofmotivationonmovementastudyofbradykinesiainparkinsonsdisease
AT tamarashiner effectofmotivationonmovementastudyofbradykinesiainparkinsonsdisease
AT benseymour effectofmotivationonmovementastudyofbradykinesiainparkinsonsdisease
AT mkaelsymmonds effectofmotivationonmovementastudyofbradykinesiainparkinsonsdisease
AT peterdayan effectofmotivationonmovementastudyofbradykinesiainparkinsonsdisease
AT kailashpbhatia effectofmotivationonmovementastudyofbradykinesiainparkinsonsdisease
AT raymondjdolan effectofmotivationonmovementastudyofbradykinesiainparkinsonsdisease