Working memory functioning in medicated Parkinson's disease patients and the effect of withdrawal of dopaminergic medication

Cognitive impairments in Parkinson's disease (PD) could be explained by a central executive (CE) deficit in A. D. Baddeley's (1986) working memory model. To test this hypothesis, verbal, spatial, and double span tasks were given to 12 medicated PD patients and control participants, with varying recall delays. The double span task was assigned to explore the coordinating and integrating function of the CE, and lengthening the recall delay was expected to implicate more attentional resources. PD patients had lower spans relative to controls in all tasks. However, the more specific implication of the CE was difficult to prove. One reason could be that PD patients were on dopaminergic treatment when tested. To control this effect, 12 PD patients on and off medication were studied in a second experiment using the same tasks. PD patients off medication had lower spans only in the double task; this result underlines the role of dopamine on working memory processes.