ORIGINAL RESEARCH

Consolidation and reconsolidation of visual and semantic memory in Parkinson’s disease

About authors

1 Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University, Moscow, Russia

2 Kursk State Medical University, Kursk, Russia

Correspondence should be addressed: Ekaterina A. Petrash
Ostrovityanova, 1, Moscow, 117997, Russia; ur.liam@hsartep

About paper

Author contributions: Nikishina VB — study concept; interpretation and summarization of the obtained empirical data; Petrash EA– study concept; processing, interpretation and summarization of the obtained empirical data; Kuznetsova AA — interpretation and summarization of the obtained empirical data; Shuteeva TV — implementation of the experiment, collection of primary empirical data; Zakharova IA — implementation of the experiment, collection of primary empirical data.

Compliance with ethical standards: the study complied with the legislation on public health protection; informed consent was obtained from all study participants (Protocol of the Ethics Committee No. 207 dated April 19, 2021).

Received: 2021-12-02 Accepted: 2021-12-20 Published online: 2021-12-31
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Cognitive and mnestic impairments have a significant negative impact on the quality of parkinsonian patients’ life. Memory impairment causes changes in the mechanisms of information processing. The aim of this study was to investigate the characteristics of transformations undergone by memorized visual and semantic content during memory consolidation and reconsolidation in patients with Parkinson’s disease. The study was conducted on 32 male patients with PD (ICD code: G20). Among the patients, 9 had rigidity/bradykinesia-d ominant PD, 11 had tremor-dominant PD, and 12 suffered from a mixed type of PD. Short-term  memory span was assessed using the 10 words and the visual memory tests proposed by Luria. As stimulus materials we used a symbolic representation of the old Greek letter resembling an owl and a translated excerpt from a Canadian aboriginal epic. Regardless of the PD form, the quality of the memorized information was either altered or completely lost. The mechanisms underlying such transformations differed quantitively depending on the PD form. Transformation of the memorized information occurred in the conditions of both incidental and deliberate memorization and was represented by distortions (substitution of the original content with confabulations) and simplifications of the structural and semantic organization. We consolidated significantly lesser amount of auditory verbal (р = 0.018) and visual (p = 0.029) information. This trend was consistent with the pronounced distortion of content during its retrieval.

Keywords: Parkinson’s disease, visual memory, semantic memory, deliberate memorization, incidental memorization, consolidation, reconsolidations

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