Movement-related potentials in Parkinson's disease. Motor imagery and movement preparation

Abstract

Movement-related potentials (MRPs) associated with voluntary movements reflect cortical activity associated with processes of movement preparation and movement execution. Early-stage pre-movement activity is reduced in amplitude in Parkinson's disease. However it is unclear whether this neurophysiological deficit relates to preparatory or execution-related activity, since previous studies have not been able to separate different functional components of MRPs. Motor imagery is thought to involve mainly processes of movement preparation, with reduced involvement of endstage movement execution-related processes. Therefore, MRP components relating to movement preparation and execution may be exa..