TY - JOUR

T1 - Susceptibility to Geometrical Visual Illusions in Parkinson's Disorder

AU - Wincza, Radoslaw

AU - Hartley, Calum

AU - Readman, Megan

AU - Linkenauger, Sally

AU - Crawford, Trevor

PY - 2024/1/8

Y1 - 2024/1/8

N2 - Parkinson's disorder (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disorder affecting approximately 1-3% of the population aged 60 yearsand older. In addition to motor difficulties, PD is also marked by visual disturbances, including depth perception, abnormalities inbasal ganglia functioning, and dopamine deficiency. Reduced ability to perceive depth has been linked to an increased risk of falling in this population. The purpose of this paper was to determine whether disturbances in PD patients’ visual processing manifest through atypical performance on visual illusion (VI) tasks. This insight will advance understanding of high-level perception in PD, as well as indicate the role of dopamine deficiency and basal ganglia pathophysiology in VIs susceptibility. Groups of 28 PD patients (Mage = 63.46, SD = 7.55) and 28 neurotypical controls (Mage = 63.18, SD = 9.39) matched on age, general cognitive abilities (memory, numeracy, attention, language), and mood responded to Ebbinghaus, Ponzo, and Muller-Lyer illusions in a computer-based task. Our results revealed no reliable differences in VI susceptibility between PD and neurotypical groups. In the early- to mid-stage of PD, abnormalities of the basal ganglia and dopamine deficiency are unlikely to be involved in top-down processing or depth perception, which are both thought to be related to VI susceptibility. Furthermore, depth-related issues experienced by PD patients (e.g., increased risk for falling) may not be subserved by the same cognitive mechanisms as VIs. Further research is needed to investigate if more explicit presentations of illusory depth are affected in PD, which might help to understand the depth processing deficits in PD.

AB - Parkinson's disorder (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disorder affecting approximately 1-3% of the population aged 60 yearsand older. In addition to motor difficulties, PD is also marked by visual disturbances, including depth perception, abnormalities inbasal ganglia functioning, and dopamine deficiency. Reduced ability to perceive depth has been linked to an increased risk of falling in this population. The purpose of this paper was to determine whether disturbances in PD patients’ visual processing manifest through atypical performance on visual illusion (VI) tasks. This insight will advance understanding of high-level perception in PD, as well as indicate the role of dopamine deficiency and basal ganglia pathophysiology in VIs susceptibility. Groups of 28 PD patients (Mage = 63.46, SD = 7.55) and 28 neurotypical controls (Mage = 63.18, SD = 9.39) matched on age, general cognitive abilities (memory, numeracy, attention, language), and mood responded to Ebbinghaus, Ponzo, and Muller-Lyer illusions in a computer-based task. Our results revealed no reliable differences in VI susceptibility between PD and neurotypical groups. In the early- to mid-stage of PD, abnormalities of the basal ganglia and dopamine deficiency are unlikely to be involved in top-down processing or depth perception, which are both thought to be related to VI susceptibility. Furthermore, depth-related issues experienced by PD patients (e.g., increased risk for falling) may not be subserved by the same cognitive mechanisms as VIs. Further research is needed to investigate if more explicit presentations of illusory depth are affected in PD, which might help to understand the depth processing deficits in PD.

KW - Parkinson’s disorder

KW - visual illusions

KW - Ebbinghaus illusion

KW - Ponzo illusion

KW - Müller-Lyer illusion

KW - depth perception

U2 - 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1289160

DO - 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1289160

M3 - Journal article

VL - 14

JO - Frontiers in Psychology

JF - Frontiers in Psychology

SN - 1664-1078

M1 - 1289160

ER -