Séminaire : Fosco BERNARSCON de l'EPFL

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is an irreversible and progressive neurodegenerative disease, defined primarily as a movement disorder. However, PD is increasingly described as a heterogeneous disease, not only affecting the motor system, but also impacting non-motor circuits and manifesting in a wide variety of non-motor symptoms. Among the non-motor symptoms, hallucinations are highly prevalent with one patient out of two experiencing hallucinations regularly. Hallucinations have been associated with a more severe form of the disease characterized by dementia. Yet, hallucinations in PD (especially those occurring early in the disease) are understudied and their neural mechanisms remain poorly understood. In the current talk I will describe sensorimotor methods and procedures to investigate the mechanisms of specific hallucinations. Additionally, I will discuss the potential anticipatory role that early hallucinations might have in cognitive decline.