Feedback-related potentials and oscillations during trial and error learning in Parkinson's disease
Electrophysiological markers of performance monitoring are thought to reflect functioning of dedicated neural networks and neuromodulatory systems. Whether and how these markers are altered in neurological diseases and whether they can reflect particular cognitive deficits remains to be confirmed. Here we first tested whether the frontal medial feedback-related potential, evoked during a trial and error learning task, is changed in early Parkinson disease patients compared to control subjects. The potential was not changed in amplitude and discriminated negative and positive feedback as in controls. Feedback-related markers in Parkinsons patients also appeared in time-frequency analyses, unaltered in theta (3-7 Hz) band but reduced in beta (20-30 Hz) oscillations for positive feedback. Beta oscillations power appeared to be dramatically globally reduced during the task. Overall, our results show that Beta oscillation markers of performance monitoring captured by EEG are selectively altered in Parkinson disease patients, and that they are accompanied by changes in task-related oscillatory dynamics.