The road less traveled: Alternative pathways for action-verb processing in Parkinson’s disease

Abstract

Introduction: Relative to other lexical units, action verbs distinctively involve activations along motor brain networks. In movement disorders, damage to the latter is associated with difficulties to access such words. However, patients are not fully capable of processing them, as their performance is far from floor level. Action-verb processing may then rely on less efficient, non-motor semantic circuits. To test this hypothesis, we separately measured behavioral performance and neurofunctional correlates during lexical processing tasks in Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients and healthy controls.