What is this study trying to find out about Parkinson's disease?

This study aims to understand how deep brain stimulation (DBS) affects attention, perception, and cognitive functions in Parkinson's disease and other movement disorders. Researchers want to see if DBS changes how patients perceive social cues and whether the treatment can be optimized for better attention control. The University of Nebraska leads this research to improve knowledge about non-motor symptoms in these conditions.

Who may be eligible for this Parkinson's disease clinical trial?

Adults aged 19 to 90 with Parkinson's disease, essential tremor, or dystonia who are able to provide consent and perform tasks using a button or mouse may be eligible. Participants must have vision sufficient to judge facial expressions and may be scheduled for deep brain stimulation therapy. Both patients and healthy controls can participate. Please review eligibility criteria for more details.

Is there any cost to participate in this Parkinson's disease clinical trial?

Study-related care, including the study procedures and all trial visits, is provided at no cost. Participants may have personal expenses such as travel costs which are not guaranteed to be covered by the study. Participants should plan accordingly for any additional costs.

Actively Recruiting

Phase Not Applicable

Age: 19Years - 90Years

All Genders

Healthy Volunteers

ID06899022

Studying How Deep Brain Stimulation Affects Attention, Perception, and Cognition in Parkinsons Disease and Other Movement Disorders

Led by University of Nebraska · Updated on 2026-05-05

138

Participants Needed

Research Sites

26 weeks

Total Duration

AI-Summary

What this Trial Is About

Researchers are investigating how deep brain stimulation DBS affects attention, perception, and cognition in people with Parkinsons disease PD and other movement disorders like essential tremor ET and dystonia DT. The study aims to understand if attention problems in PD change how social cues are interpreted and whether DBS improves or worsens these difficulties. It also explores how DBS might be optimized to restore attention control while treating other symptoms and what brain areas targeted by DBS contribute to attention control. Participants are grouped into those with PD, ET, or DT undergoing DBS, and healthy controls without these disorders. The study includes tasks where participants view and rate facial expressions while their eye movements are tracked. DBS stimulation is altered acutely during the study in three randomized conditions normal therapeutic DBS, reduced current DBS, and reduced frequency DBS, each lasting about 20 minutes. Evaluations occur before DBS implantation, during awake DBS surgery, and after DBS initiation with changes in stimulation. Participants will be involved in facial emotion rating tasks and visual search tasks while eye tracking and brain activity recordings are performed. Assessments include facial expression ratings and eye tracking at baseline, intraoperative microrecordings during surgery, and follow-up after DBS optimization. Additional measures include EEG and local field potential recordings during emotional face viewing to study brain activity related to attention and perception. The study continues through approximately six months after DBS implantation, with thorough monitoring of cognitive and perceptual outcomes.

CONDITIONS

Brief Title

Attention and Eye Movement in Parkinson's Disease

How This Trial Compares With Other Options

This table compares participation in this trial with other options available for this condition. The information is drawn from published research and the trial’s study details and is provided for educational purposes only.

Factors	Normal Therapeutic DBS	Reduced Current DBS	Reduced Frequency DBS
What it is	Deep brain stimulation delivered at clinically optimized settings for symptom control.	Deep brain stimulation at therapeutic frequency but with current reduced by 50%.	Deep brain stimulation at clinically determined current but reduced frequency (4 Hz).
Primary use	Used to determine effects of established stimulation on attention and eye movement during perceptual and facial recognition tasks.	Tests whether lower current impacts perceptual judgment, attention, and eye movement compared to baseline DBS.	Evaluates the effect of decreased frequency stimulation on attentional and oculomotor performance.
Evidence status	Therapeutic DBS is clinically established for motor symptom control, but its effects on eye movement and emotional perception are mixed and under investigation.	Short-term reduced current settings examined in trial but not routinely used; external evidence is limited.	Reduced frequency DBS is investigational. Existing studies show changes in saccadic eye movements with frequency modification but evidence is limited.
Important limitations	While normal DBS improves motor symptoms, effects on cognitive and emotional tasks such as attention and facial emotion processing can vary and are incompletely understood.	Reduced current modes are studied only in acute settings for research; clinical relevance and reproducibility outside the laboratory remain uncertain.	Reduced frequency DBS has experimental value, but external studies show variable effects and it is not routinely applied clinically.

Disclaimer: This comparison is created with the help of artificial intelligence(AI) and may contain errors or missing information. It is not medical advice and does not mean one option is better or safer than another. Clinical trials are still being studied, and joining a trial is your choice. Please consult your healthcare professional before making any decisions.

Who Can Participate

Age: 19Years - 90Years

All Genders

Healthy Volunteers

Eligibility Criteria

You may qualify if you...

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 to 90 years
Diagnosis of idiopathic Parkinson's disease, essential tremor, or dystonia
Scheduled for new implantation of a therapeutic DBS device targeted to subthalamic nucleus, ventral intermediate nucleus of thalamus, or internal globus pallidus
Age-matched healthy participants without PD, ET, or DT
Scheduled for awake DBS implantation with clinical micro-electrode recordings
Willing and able to engage in tasks during awake surgical procedure
Willing to undergo and tolerate acute manipulations of DBS

You will not qualify if you...

Corrected visual acuity insufficient to perceptually judge face stimuli
Inability to understand task instructions or complete task requirements
Insufficient therapeutic control of motor symptoms to engage in tasks requiring button press or mouse use
History of neurodegenerative disorder for healthy comparison participants
Not undergoing awake DBS implantation (for Aim 2 participants)
Failure of DBS to achieve therapeutic effect on motor symptoms (for Aim 3 participants)

Your Study Journey

Screening

Duration - 2 to 4 weeks

Participants are screened for eligibility to participate in the trial.

1 visit (in-person)

Surgery and Immediate Post-operative Care

Duration - Approximately 1 day

Participants undergo awake DBS implantation surgery during which microelectrode recordings are captured while performing tasks involving emotional face stimuli. Deep brain stimulation is acutely altered under three conditions in randomized order to evaluate effects on attention and perception.

1 surgical visit (in-person)

Post-operative Follow-up

Duration - 2 to 3 weeks

Participants complete follow-up assessments 2 to 3 weeks after DBS implantation, including facial expression rating and eye tracking tasks following clinical optimization of stimulation parameters.

1 follow-up visit (in-person)

Long-term Monitoring

Duration - Up to 6 months

Participants complete a single experimental visit up to 6 months after surgery involving EEG and LFP recordings during emotional face viewing tasks to assess brain activity related to attention and perception.

1 visit (in-person)