Altered perceptual sensitivity to kinematic invariants in Parkinson's disease

Ample evidence exists for coupling between action and perception in neurologically healthy individuals, yet the precise nature of the internal representations shared between these domains remains unclear. One experimentally derived view is that the invariant properties and constraints characterizing movement generation are also manifested during motion perception. One prominent motor invariant is the "two-third power law," describing the strong relation between the kinematics of motion and the geometrical features of the path followed by the hand during planar drawing movements. The two-thirds power law not only characterizes various movement generation tasks but also seems to constrain visual perception of motion. The present study aimed to assess whether motor invariants, such as the two thirds power law also constrain motion perception in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). Patients with PD and age-matched controls were asked to observe the movement of a light spot rotating on an elliptical path and to modify its velocity until it appeared to move most uniformly. As in previous reports controls tended to choose those movements close to obeying the two-thirds power law as most uniform. Patients with PD displayed a more variable behavior, choosing on average, movements closer but not equal to a constant velocity. Our results thus demonstrate impairments in how the two-thirds power law constrains motion perception in patients with PD, where this relationship between velocity and curvature appears to be preserved but scaled down. Recent hypotheses on the role of the basal ganglia in motor timing may explain these irregularities. Alternatively, these impairments in perception of movement may reflect similar deficits in motor production.