Effect of Mental Imagery Training on Brain Plasticity and Motor Function in Individuals With Parkinson's Disease

Effect of Mental Imagery Training on Brain Plasticity and Motor Function in Individuals With Parkinson's Disease: A Functional MRI Investigation

Effect of Mental Imagery Training on Brain Plasticity and Motor Function in Individuals with Parkinson's Disease: A functional MRI investigation.

This project will examine the effect of functional MRI-based neurofeedback on brain plasticity and motor performance in patients with Parkinson's Disease (PD).

Inclusion Criteria:

• Subjects with a diagnosis of idiopathic PD defined according to the UK Brain Bank diagnostic criteria and on a stable dopaminergic medication regimen will be included.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Age < 40 years
• Non-English speaking
• Pregnancy
• Breastfeeding
• Excessive alcohol consumption (> 7 drinks per week for women, > 14 drinks per week for men) or substance use
• History of a neurological disorder such as a brain tumor, stroke, central nervous system infection, multiple sclerosis, movement disorder (other than PD), or seizures
• History of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, attention deficit disorder, or obsessive compulsive disorder
• History of head injury with loss of consciousness
• Metallic surgical implants or traumatically implanted metallic foreign bodies
• Inability to lie flat for about an hour
• Discomfort being in small, enclosed spaces
• Dementia (Montreal Cognitive Assessment score < 21)
• Depression (Beck Depression Inventory-II score > 19)
• Hoehn & Yahr stage > 3 (i.e., able to stand and walk, but not fully independent)
• Focal neurological findings on exam that suggest cerebral pathology other than that associated with parkinsonism
• Motor symptoms that could potentially introduce too much motion artifact in the imaging data (e.g., MDS-UPDRS resting tremor score > 1 in limbs, head/chin tremor, or dyskinesia by history or exam).