Unraveling Visuomotor Control in Parkinson Disease With and Without Freezing of Gait

Status: Recruiting
Location: See location...
Study Type: Observational
SUMMARY

Visuomotor processing is the ability to integrate visual information into motor plans and movement correction, which is highly required in daily activities such as writing and walking. As visual impairments have been reported in people with Parkinson's disease (PD), it is likely that those impairments may affect visuomotor processing ability and subsequently impair motor performance. Furthermore, people with PD and freezing of gait (FOG) have exhibited poorer visual perception than those without FOG, yet the differences of visuomotor control have not been well investigated. Additionally, little did the studies apply neurophysiological assessment to investigate the associated neural mechanisms. This study aims to investigate behavioral and neurophysiological differences in visuomotor control among people with PD and FOG (freezers), without FOG (non-freezers), and age-matched healthy controls. Sixty-three participants, 21 freezers, 21 non-freezers, and 21 age-matched healthy controls, will be enrolled in this study. Behavioral assessments, including a manual control task and visual perception tests will be used to evaluate visuomotor and visual perceptual abilities. Neurophysiological correlates, including corticomotor excitability and corticocortical connectivity between V1-M1 and PPC-M1, will be examined using transcranial magnetic stimulation. It is hypothesized that freezers will demonstrate the greatest visuomotor impairments and disrupted corticocortical connectivity compared to non-freezers and controls. By integrating behavioral and neurophysiological outcomes, this study seeks to unravel the mechanisms linking visual and motor impairments to FOG, ultimately providing insights into targeted interventions to improve visuomotor processing and motor performance in PD.

Eligibility
Participation Requirements
Sex: All
Minimum Age: 18
Healthy Volunteers: t
View:

• age above 18

• able to follow the researchers' instructions

• normal or correct-to-normal vision to view a computer screen

Locations
Other Locations
Taiwan
School and Graduate Institute of Physical Therapy
RECRUITING
Taipei
Contact Information
Primary
Ya-Yun Lee, PhD
yayunlee@ntu.edu.tw
+886-2-33668155
Backup
Sung-Hao Lu
d12428001@ntu.edu.tw
+886-9-79880052
Time Frame
Start Date: 2025-07-19
Estimated Completion Date: 2028-12-31
Participants
Target number of participants: 63
Treatments
FOG
Participants with Parkinson disease and freezing of gait
NFOG
Participants with Parkinson disease without freezing of gait
CON
Age-matched healthy adults
Related Therapeutic Areas
Sponsors
Leads: National Taiwan University Hospital

This content was sourced from clinicaltrials.gov