Clinical Research Directory

Brain Mechanisms of Social Perception in Parkinson's Disease

Social cognition is a complex process that enables humans to interpret social information and behave appropriately in a social environment. Social cognition can be impaired in Parkinson's disease patients, worsening quality of life and relationships with those around them, even at an early stage. These alterations are manifested in particular by impairments of the recognition of facial emotions and body movements, involving the motor system. The aim of this study is to understand the brain mechanisms associated with impaired social perception in people with Parkinson's disease using functional MRI and a behavioural task for the perception of social interaction scenes depicted by "Point Light Display" (PLD).This study will investigate the effect of dopaminergic modulation on the networks associated with the perception of movement and mirror system, the observation of action (parietal cortex, superior temporal sulcus), and those associated with the mentalization of others' cognitive or emotional states (prefrontal cortex and limbic system). The study is thus divided into 2 stages. * Stage 1 "preliminary": Preliminary validation of the experimental task * Stage 2 "imagery": Assessment of brain activity (BOLD signal) related to social perception in imaging