Impairment in Theory of Mind in Parkinson's Disease Is Explained by Deficits in Inhibition

2019

Objective: Several studies have reported that people with Parkinson's disease (PD) perform poorly on tests of Theory of Mind' (ToM), suggesting impairment in the ability to understand and infer other people's thoughts and feelings. However, few studies have sought to separate the processes involved in social reasoning from those involved in managing the inhibitory demands on these tests. In this study, we investigated the contribution of inhibition to ToM performance in PD. Methods. 18 PD patients and 22 age-matched healthy controls performed a ToM test that separates the ability to infer someone else's perspective from the ability to inhibit one's own. Participants also completed a battery…