Working Memory Training Responsiveness in Parkinson's Disease Is Not Determined by Cortical Thickness or White Matter Lesions

Kathrin Giehl; Hendrik Theis; Anja Ophey; Jochen Hammes; Paul Reker; Carsten Eggers; Gereon R Fink; Elke Kalbe; Thilo van Eimeren

doi:10.3233/JPD-230367

Working Memory Training Responsiveness in Parkinson's Disease Is Not Determined by Cortical Thickness or White Matter Lesions

J Parkinsons Dis. 2024;14(2):347-351. doi: 10.3233/JPD-230367.

Authors

Kathrin Giehl^{1

2}, Hendrik Theis^{1

3}, Anja Ophey⁴, Jochen Hammes^{1

5}, Paul Reker³, Carsten Eggers⁶, Gereon R Fink^{3

7}, Elke Kalbe⁴, Thilo van Eimeren^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Nuclear Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, University of Cologne, Multimodal Neuroimaging Group, Cologne, Germany.
² Research Center Jülich, Institute for Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-2), Jülich, Germany.
³ Department of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
⁴ Department of Medical Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Neuropsychology and Gender Studies and Center for Neuropsychological Diagnostics and Intervention (CeNDI), University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
⁵ Nuklearmedizin, Radiologische Allianz, Hamburg, Germany.
⁶ Department of Neurology, Knappschaftskrankenhaus Bottrop, Bottrop, Germany.
⁷ Research Center Jülich, Institute for Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-3), Jülich, Germany.

Abstract

Patients with Parkinson's disease are highly vulnerable for cognitive decline. Thus, early intervention by means of working memory training (WMT) may be effective for the preservation of cognition. However, the influence of structural brain properties, i.e., cortical thickness and volume of white matter lesions on training responsiveness have not been studied. Here, behavioral and neuroimaging data of 46 patients with Parkinson's disease, 21 of whom engaged in home-based, computerized adaptive WMT, was analyzed. While cortical thickness and white matter lesions volume were associated with cognitive performance at baseline, these structural brain properties do not seem to determine WMT responsiveness.

Keywords: MRI; Parkinson’s disease; Working memory training; cognition; cortical thickness; white matter lesion.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Brain / pathology
Cognitive Dysfunction* / complications
Cognitive Training
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging / methods
Neuropsychological Tests
Parkinson Disease* / complications
White Matter* / diagnostic imaging
White Matter* / pathology

Associated data

DRKS/DRKS00009379