Memory function in patients with Parkinson's disease or subcortical lacunar infarcts evaluated by visual event-related potentials

Memory function was studied in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) or subcortical lacunar infarcts (SLI) using continuous visual recognition memory tasks and event-related potentials (ERPs). Response accuracy for new faces in PD patients, but not SLI patients, was significantly decreased compared to the normal control group. The ERP repetition effect for lag 0 was apparent in controls, but not in the PD or SLI patients. In addition, PD patients showed more positive ERP amplitude for new faces than control subjects and SLI patients. Our data suggest that recognition memory for visual stimuli declines in both PD and SLI patients. Recognition memory deficits in PD may result, at least in part, from impairment of the contex integration process, whereas contex integration may be relatively intact in SLI patients.