Alexis Collins

• MBChB Medicine
• The impact of visual cues and digit recall on visual exploration during locomotion in Parkinson's Disease

Cognitive and visual deficits, which are considered non-cardinal features of Parkinson’s disease, are thought to contribute to gait disturbance. In order to advance our understanding of the role of these deficits, data from 5 healthy control subjects was initially obtained. Visual behaviour during single-task (walking only) and dual-task (walking with concurrent digit recall task) was assessed. These preliminary findings show that: 1) Total number of saccades increased during walking under visual cue and during dual-task conditions; 2) Saccadic fixation frequency increased under visual cue and dual task conditions; 3) Saccadic fixation duration was greater during single task.

Funding Source: Wellcome Trust