Subthalamic deep brain stimulation improves time perception in Parkinson's disease

Alterations in temporal estimation have been observed in Parkinson's disease (PD) and have been associated with dopaminergic dysfunction. To investigate whether deep brain stimulation might reverse these abnormalities in PD, patients treated with electrode implantation for subthalamic deep brain stimulation were required to reproduce time intervals in different experimental conditions (off deep brain stimulation/off therapy, on deep brain stimulation/off therapy, on therapy/off deep brain stimulation). Patients treated with deep brain stimulation in off deep brain stimulation/off therapy displayed the anomalous pattern of responses typically observed in PD. When subthalamic deep brain stimulation was turned on these abnormalities were significantly attenuated. Our findings reveal that subthalamic deep brain stimulation improves time perception in PD patients, supporting the critical role of basal ganglia in this cognitive function, probably mediated by facilitated thalamo-cortical projections to the prefrontal cortex.