Effects of physostigmine on spatial attention in patients with progressive supranuclear palsy
C. Kertzman, D. L. Robinson and I. Litvan
Section on Visual Behavior, National Eye Institute, National Institute of Health, Bethesda, Md 20892.
We tested patients with progressive supranuclear palsy and control subjects
on a task of visuopatial attention. Targets preceded by cues on the same
side were termed validly cued; and those on the opposite side, invalidly
cued. For all subjects, validly cued targets were responded to faster than
those that were invalidly cued. The difference between reaction times for
invalidly and validly cued targets, which is hypothesized to measure
attentional movement, was significantly increased for the patients. The
performance of the controls on certain neuropsychological tests was
correlated with their attentional ability. These correlations were altered
by progressive supranuclear palsy. Physostigmine treatment of the patients
induced a speeding of responses to invalidly cued targets as a function of
the duration of the disease. These studies show defects in cognition and
attention in patients with progressive supranuclear palsy and demonstrate
that physostigmine reduces some of the abnormal visual attentional
performance.
