Impaired visuospatial attention revealed by theta- and beta-band cortical activities in idiopathic REM sleep behavior disorder patients

Objectives: Idiopathic REM sleep behavior disorder (iRBD) patients are susceptible to cognitive deficits, especially attention dysfunction. The objective of this study is to elucidate the neural mechanism of the dysfunction in attention known as 'inhibition of return' (IOR) in iRBD patients based on an analysis of oscillatory cortical activity during a selective attention task.

Methods: Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded from iRBD patients and normal control subjects while performing a Posner task. The differences in N1 ERP and theta- and beta-bands event-related spectral perturbations (ERSPs) between valid and invalid stimuli were compared between groups.

Results: The N1 amplitude was significantly higher for the invalid stimuli in controls, while the valid-invalid difference was not significant in iRBD patients. The valid-invalid differences in ERSPs were prominent in controls at ∼100-400 ms for the theta-band and ∼200-400 ms for the beta-band, and the valid-invalid differences in ERSPs were not significant in the iRBD patients.

Conclusion: The results demonstrated that valid-invalid differences in neural activity were absent in iRBD patients, and these neural findings were in accord with the behavioral results.

Significance: Our findings imply impairment in sensory-perceptual processing mediated by attentional control and response inhibition in early-stage iRBD before clinical neurodegeneration.