How attention and eye movements affect emotion perception in Parkinson's disease

Is this trial a fit for you?

A plain-English reading of the study's rules. Only the study team can confirm whether you qualify.

What this trial studies

This mixed observational and interventional protocol uses eye-tracking to record where participants look and how they judge facial emotions before and after receiving therapeutic DBS. Participants include adults with Parkinson's disease, essential tremor, or dystonia who are scheduled for awake DBS implantation, plus age-matched healthy comparison participants. The study compares standard therapeutic DBS to reduced current and reduced frequency settings to see how different stimulation parameters affect attention, perception, and cognition. Findings will be compared across diagnostic groups and to healthy controls to clarify whether disrupted attention underlies altered emotion perception and whether DBS settings can be optimized to reduce these non-motor deficits.

Why it matters

Who can join: the full rules

Inclusion Criteria

* All Participants (Aim 1):

  * Ability and willingness to provide signed informed consent for this study
  * Ability to express perceptual judgments through a button press or mouse- controlled computerized slider
  * Age 19 - 90 years
* DBS Participants (Aim 1):

  * Diagnosis of idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD), essential tremor (ET) or dystonia (DT).
  * Scheduled for new implantation of a therapeutic DBS device targeted to subthalamic nucleus (STN), ventral intermediate nucleus of thalamus (VIM) or internal globus pallidus (GPi)
* Comparison Participants (Aim 1):

  o Selection by age matching to participants in PD group
* Parkinson's disease (PD), essential tremor (ET) and dystonia (DT) Participants (Aim 2):

  * Ability and willingness to provide signed informed consent for this study
  * Ability to express perceptual judgments through a button press or mouse- controlled computerized slider
  * Age 19 - 90 years
  * Scheduled for awake DBS implantation with clinical micro-electrode recordings (MER)
  * Willing and able to engage in tasks during an awake surgical procedure
* Parkinson's disease (PD), essential tremor (ET) and dystonia (DT) Participants (Aim 3):

  * Ability and willingness to provide signed informed consent for this study
  * Ability to express perceptual judgments through a button press or mouse- controlled computerized slider
  * Age 19 - 90 years
  * Willing to undergo acute manipulations of DBS
  * Able to tolerate acute changes of DBS

Exclusion Criteria

* All Participants (Aim 1):

  * Corrected visual acuity insufficient to perceptually judge face stimuli
  * Inability to understand task instructions or complete task requirements
* DBS Participants (Aim 1):

  o Insufficient therapeutic control of motor symptoms to engage in tasks requiring button press or use of a mouse to control a slider
* Healthy Comparison Participants (Aim 1):

  o History of neurodegenerative disorder
* Parkinson's disease (PD), essential tremor (ET) and dystonia (DT) Participants (Aim 2):

  * Corrected visual acuity insufficient to perceptually judge face stimuli
  * Inability to understand task instructions or complete task requirements
  * Not undergoing awake DBS implantation
  * Uncorrected visual acuity insufficient to perceptually judge face stimuli
* Parkinson's disease (PD), essential tremor (ET) and dystonia (DT) Participants (Aim 3):

  * Corrected visual acuity insufficient to perceptually judge face stimuli
  * Inability to understand task instructions or complete task requirements
  * Failure of DBS to achieve a therapeutic effect on motor symptoms

Where it's running

• University of Nebraska Medical Center
  Omaha, Nebraska, United States Recruiting

Study contacts

• Principal investigator: Christopher K Kovach, PhD — University of Nebraska
• Study coordinator: Christopher K Kovach, PhD
• Email: ckovach@unmc.edu
• Phone: 319-471-3372

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How to take part

1. Review the eligibility criteria above with your treating physician.
2. Check the official listing on ClinicalTrials.gov for the latest contact details and recruitment status.
3. Contact the study coordinator or principal investigator to ask for pre-screening. Pre-screening is free and never obligates you to enroll.