The deficit of executive functions in early stages of Parkinson’s disease

Objective: Our study evaluates the presence of cognitive impairments in early stages ofParkinson’s disease, focusing in the first place on executive function and attention deficits, which,according to current studies, might be affected. Material and Methods: The study included 30 patientspreviously diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease stage I and II. Every participant was evaluated with thefollowing tests: GoNoGo, Word List Memory, Spatial Target Detection Test and PEAT, all from COGTESTprogram. The results showed the presence of executive function deficit, impairment of working memoryand social cognition in patients group, as compared with the control group. One of the significant resultsin the case group was prolongation of reaction time at test completion.