Predictors of HVOT Performance in Parkinson's Disease

Abstract

Evidence suggests that the Hooper Visual Organization Test (HVOT) has naming and executive components that vary in size depending on neurological diagnosis. The current study used a sample of individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD) to demonstrate for the first time that an executive measure can be the best predictor of HVOT performance. Forty-eight nondemented and nondepressed individuals with idiopathic PD completed the HVOT and other measures of visuoperception, executive function, and visual confrontation naming. Despite average performance on all neuropsychological measures, an executive measure, time to complete Trail-Making Test Part B minus time to complete Part A, was clearly the best predictor of HVOT performance in a standard regression. The pattern of neurocognitive predictors is unlike that reported in healthy individuals and other patient samples. This finding suggests that the presence of a neuropathological process can alter neurocognitive correlates even when performance is intact, and supports the contention that executive function is paramount in the cognitive profile associated with PD.

Key words:

• confrontation naming
• executive function
• Parkinson's disease
• visuoperception

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This work was supported by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (grant number NS39121).

Notes

UPDRS = Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale.

Trails B–A = Trail-Making Test, Part B–Part A; BNT = Boston Naming Test; HVOT = Hooper Visual Organization Test.

^aSpearman's rho.

^b p = .064.

*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.

Note. R ² = .34 (p = .001).

^a p = .069.