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March 5, 2026Journal of Movement Disorders0 citationsOpen Access

Cognitive Impairment Alters Cortical Adaptation and Gait Regulation During Obstacle Walking in Parkinson’s Disease: Evidence from Temporal fNIRS and Gait Dynamics

PWPei-Ling WongYYYea-Ru YangCHChen-Wei HUNG

Key Points

  • The research aims to understand how cognitive impairment affects gait and brain activation in individuals with Parkinson’s disease and mild cognitive impairment.
  • Examined gait dynamics of participants with Parkinson's disease and mild cognitive impairment (PD-MCI).
  • Measured cortical activation using temporal functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS).
  • Analyzed brain-gait coupling during obstacle walking tasks.
  • PD-MCI participants exhibited worse gait performance compared to non-impaired counterparts.
  • Increased cortical activation was observed, indicating greater neural effort during walking tasks.
  • Findings suggest decreased efficiency in the brain-gait connection for those with cognitive impairment.

Abstract

PD-MCI participants showed poorer gait and higher cortical activation, indicating increased neural effort and reduced efficiency. These results highlight altered brain-gait coupling in PD-MCI and emphasize the need for interventions enhancing neural efficiency during complex walking.

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Cite This Study

Wong et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/69a91db5d6127c7a504c0b9dhttps://doi.org/10.14802/jmd.25346
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