30 July 2008
Donald G Grosset, Anthony H Schapira
In addition to difficulties that affect movement, many adults with
Parkinson's disease (PD) experience changes that negatively impact on
receptive aspects of their communication. For example, some PD patients
have difficulties processing non-verbal expressions (facial expressions,
voice tone) and many are less sensitive to 'non-literal' or pragmatic
meanings of language, at least under certain conditions.
This chapter
outlines how PD can affect the comprehension of language and non-verbal
expressions and considers how these changes are related to concurrent
alterations in cognition (e.g., executive functions, working memory) and
motor signs associated with the disease.
Our summary underscores that
the progressive course of PD can interrupt a number of functional
systems that support cognition and receptive language, and in different
ways, leading to both primary and secondary impairments of the systems
that support linguistic and non-verbal communication.
