Patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) demonstrate specific deficits in cognitive control, manifested as challenges in executing complex goal-oriented activities. The neuropsychological profile of PD is specific, with predominant difficulties in cognitive flexibility. Our study aimed to analyse the components of cognitive control using a novel, ecologically valid approach which integrates measures of both stability and flexibility. We investigated whether the “C3T” assessment is a more accurate tool for measuring cognitive control compared to standardized neuropsychological tests, and whether the flexible aspect of cognitive control is more impaired in patients with PD. Furthermore, we wanted to identify specific physiological profiles of brain activity in these patients. Fourteen PD patients without noticeable cognitive deficits and sixteen matched controls underwent a standardized battery of neuropsychological tests and the newly designed cognitive control task (C3T) while simultaneously recording electroencephalogram (EEG) activity in the latter. We found that C3T is a more sensitive and specific tool for cognitive control compared to standardized neuropsychological tests. PD patients, compared to healthy individuals, showed statistically significant deficits in the performance accuracy in flexible cognitive control. Although we did not detect statistically significant differences in reduced theta activity (4-7 Hz), there were trends in flexible cognitive control task that indicate the possibility of achieving significant results with a larger sample. Our study suggests that C3T could serve as an effective tool for the diagnosis and cognitive rehabilitation of specific control deficits in PD patients.
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