Functional Brain Imaging in Parkinson's to Determine Medication-Cognition Relationship

Functional brain imaging is now conducted in Parkinson's patients by  PhD student, Ian Cameron, in an attempt to determine the brain parts affected by the currently prescribed medications in Parkinson's disease, these medications are primarily used to treat symptomatic motor dysfunction in Parkinson's patients.
A study performed by Mr. Cameron on Parkinson's patients and a control group revealed that the affected brain circuit in Parkinson's, which is believed to be responsible for the motor malfunction in the disease, is also affecting cognitive functions like decision making and planning. In their attempt to understand the aspects of Parkinson's disease that affect the brain's ability to function on a cognitive level, the researchers in the Queen's Centre for Neuroscience Studies have found that Parkinson's patients have better ability to perform automated tasks than the control group, yet , they seemed to have greater difficulty switching from easy to hard tasks.
In their experiment, the researchers asked the two participant groups to first look at a light when it came on, and then they were asked to change that behavior by looking away from that light. The Parkinson's patients responded to the first task with greater accuracy, suggesting higher ability in performing automated response. As for the second task though, they struggled to perform what was asked, it was incredibly difficult for the patients to perform plan adjusting; this in turn suggests cognitive malfunction as related to task switching which involves planning and decision making. These findings suggest that the cognitive balance of a Parkinson's disease patient might be upset by the use of medications that treat motor symptoms of the disease.