BACKGROUND AND AIM: Some patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) present with pareidolia, an illusion of a meaningless stimulus as a familiar object known to the observer. Since the striatum is associated with processing of visual information, we investigated correlations of pareidolia with motor symptoms and striatal dopaminergic function. METHOD: A noise pareidolia test, assessment of motor symptoms using MDS-UPDRS and 123I-Ioflupane SPECT were performed in 58 drug-naïve PD patients. A number of images in which a participant noticed an illusory face (number of illusory responses) were compared with motor assessment scores and uptake of 123I-ioflupane in the striatum. RESULTS: Of the 58 participants, 22 had at least one illusory response. Mean scores for MDS-UPDRS part III (p<0.05), rigidity (p<0.05), and rigidity on the left side of the body (p<0.01) in patients with pareidolia were significantly higher than those in patients without pareidolia. Uptake of 123I-ioflupane in the right caudate nucleus (p<0.05), anterior putamen (p<0.01), and posterior putamen (p<0.01) in patients with pareidolia was significantly lower than in patients without pareidolia. In the 22 patients with pareidolia, the number of illusory responses was significantly correlated with total scores for MDS-UPDRS part III (r=0.443, p<0.05) and subscores for bradykinesia (r=0.440, p<0.05) and bradykinesia on the left side of the body (r=0.564, p<0.01). The prevalence of pareidolia in left-dominant parkinsonism (16/30 patients) was higher than that in right-dominant parkinsonism (6/28 patients) (p<0.05 by chi-square test). CONCLUSION: Pareidolia in PD patients is associated with dysfunction in the right striatum.
BACKGROUND AND AIM: Some patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) present with pareidolia, an illusion of a meaningless stimulus as a familiar object known to the observer. Since the striatum is associated with processing of visual information, we investigated correlations of pareidolia with motor symptoms and striatal dopaminergic function. METHOD: A noise pareidolia test, assessment of motor symptoms using MDS-UPDRS and 123I-Ioflupane SPECT were performed in 58 drug-naïve PD patients. A number of images in which a participant noticed an illusory face (number of illusory responses) were compared with motor assessment scores and uptake of 123I-ioflupane in the striatum. RESULTS: Of the 58 participants, 22 had at least one illusory response. Mean scores for MDS-UPDRS part III (p<0.05), rigidity (p<0.05), and rigidity on the left side of the body (p<0.01) in patients with pareidolia were significantly higher than those in patients without pareidolia. Uptake of 123I-ioflupane in the right caudate nucleus (p<0.05), anterior putamen (p<0.01), and posterior putamen (p<0.01) in patients with pareidolia was significantly lower than in patients without pareidolia. In the 22 patients with pareidolia, the number of illusory responses was significantly correlated with total scores for MDS-UPDRS part III (r=0.443, p<0.05) and subscores for bradykinesia (r=0.440, p<0.05) and bradykinesia on the left side of the body (r=0.564, p<0.01). The prevalence of pareidolia in left-dominant parkinsonism (16/30 patients) was higher than that in right-dominant parkinsonism (6/28 patients) (p<0.05 by chi-square test). CONCLUSION: Pareidolia in PD patients is associated with dysfunction in the right striatum.
Authors: Ian G McKeith; Bradley F Boeve; Dennis W Dickson; Glenda Halliday; John-Paul Taylor; Daniel Weintraub; Dag Aarsland; James Galvin; Johannes Attems; Clive G Ballard; Ashley Bayston; Thomas G Beach; Frédéric Blanc; Nicolaas Bohnen; Laura Bonanni; Jose Bras; Patrik Brundin; David Burn; Alice Chen-Plotkin; John E Duda; Omar El-Agnaf; Howard Feldman; Tanis J Ferman; Dominic Ffytche; Hiroshige Fujishiro; Douglas Galasko; Jennifer G Goldman; Stephen N Gomperts; Neill R Graff-Radford; Lawrence S Honig; Alex Iranzo; Kejal Kantarci; Daniel Kaufer; Walter Kukull; Virginia M Y Lee; James B Leverenz; Simon Lewis; Carol Lippa; Angela Lunde; Mario Masellis; Eliezer Masliah; Pamela McLean; Brit Mollenhauer; Thomas J Montine; Emilio Moreno; Etsuro Mori; Melissa Murray; John T O'Brien; Sotoshi Orimo; Ronald B Postuma; Shankar Ramaswamy; Owen A Ross; David P Salmon; Andrew Singleton; Angela Taylor; Alan Thomas; Pietro Tiraboschi; Jon B Toledo; John Q Trojanowski; Debby Tsuang; Zuzana Walker; Masahito Yamada; Kenji Kosaka Journal: Neurology Date: 2017-06-07 Impact factor: 9.910
Authors: I G McKeith; D W Dickson; J Lowe; M Emre; J T O'Brien; H Feldman; J Cummings; J E Duda; C Lippa; E K Perry; D Aarsland; H Arai; C G Ballard; B Boeve; D J Burn; D Costa; T Del Ser; B Dubois; D Galasko; S Gauthier; C G Goetz; E Gomez-Tortosa; G Halliday; L A Hansen; J Hardy; T Iwatsubo; R N Kalaria; D Kaufer; R A Kenny; A Korczyn; K Kosaka; V M Y Lee; A Lees; I Litvan; E Londos; O L Lopez; S Minoshima; Y Mizuno; J A Molina; E B Mukaetova-Ladinska; F Pasquier; R H Perry; J B Schulz; J Q Trojanowski; M Yamada Journal: Neurology Date: 2005-10-19 Impact factor: 9.910