Smaller Cortical Responses to Balance Perturbations in Parkinson's Disease with Freezing of Gait

People with Parkinson’s disease and freezing of gait show smaller perturbation-evoked N1 amplitudes than Parkinson’s without freezing and older adults during backward support-surface translations.

• Why it matters: Freezing of gait is disabling and linked to balance impairment, but the cortical signals supporting functionally relevant balance errors are unclear.
• What they did: EEG was recorded in 29 people with Parkinson’s disease (13 FoG+, 16 FoG-) and 26 older adults during backward support-surface translations, quantifying N1 amplitude and latency (100–300 ms) at a central midline electrode.
• The result: FoG+ had smaller N1 amplitudes than FoG- (Δ = 18.1 μV, p = 0.001) and older adults (Δ = 14.1 μV, p = 0.003), with differences persisting after age adjustment, suggesting a marker of FoG susceptibility.

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