Impaired decision-making in Parkinson's disease

The present study demonstrated that individuals with Parkinson's disease display impairments in making profitable decisions, as evidenced by poorer performance on the Iowa Gambling Task relative to matched controls. The ability to make beneficial judgments solely correlates with ability to appropriately attribute internal mental-state to other people, as shown in a mind-reading task. However, decision-making ability for individuals with Parkinson's disease is not associated with effective execution, intellectual function or depressed mood. These findings offer a new perspective on the cognitive impairments that affect social living and adaptive decisions for individuals with Parkinson's disease. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.