Scott Grafton

The cerebral cortex has long been thought to be involved in the pathophysiology of motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease (PD). The impaired cortical function is believed to be a direct and immediate effect of pathologically patterned basal ganglia output, mediated to the cerebral cortex by way of the ventral motor thalamus. However, recent studies in humans with PD and in animal models of the disease have provided strong evidence suggesting that the involvement of the cerebral cortex is much broader than merely serving as a passive conduit for subcortical disturbances. In the present review, we discuss PD-related changes in frontal cortical motor regions, focusing on neuropathology, plasticity, changes in neurotransmission, and altered network interactions. We will also examine recent studies exploring the cortical circuits as potential targets for neuromodulation to treat PD.

Active Escape Task (activeescape) from the SKIP Dataset The Socal Kinesia and Incentivization for Parkinson's Disease (SKIP) dataset facilitates research across human sciences, focusing on human movement and the modulatory impact of incentivization, specifically in the context of Parkinson's Disease (PD). SKIP so far contains three task-based fMRI datasets and one resting-state fMRI dataset. This dataset: Active Escape Task (activeescape) Description: 69 participants tracking an 18-second countdown and making time-sensitive motor responses under the threat of electric shock. Shock intensity (mild vs unpleasant) and controllability were manipulated. In "controllable" trials, participants could avoid shocks if motor responses were fast enough. In "uncontrollable" trials, a shock was always received. Task design creates controllable-mild, uncontrollable-mild, controllable-unpleasant, and uncontrollable-unpleasant conditions. Current Version: 1.0.1 Note: This version contains data from healthy controls only. Future updates will include data from PD patients and a broader range of assays in both healthy controls and PD subjects, such as cardiac-autonomic and pupillometry data. Our goal for SKIP (https://socalkinesia.org/about/) is to become the leading global resource as the world advances in its capacity for powerful and innovative analyses, allowing researchers free access to comprehensive physiological and behavioral assays of movement, and how incentives influence them, in the context of PD.