Overview

• A recent study in Neurodegenerative Diseases shows that Parkinson’s patients with left-sided symptom dominance identify vocal emotions less accurately than those with right-sided symptoms or healthy controls.
• In early-stage patients, dopaminergic replacement therapy impairs emotion recognition for those with left-dominant symptoms but enhances it in those with right-dominant symptoms.
• Researchers suggest that symptom asymmetry may alter how dopamine therapy interacts with brain circuits involved in processing emotions.
• The study involved participants at both early and advanced disease stages, assessing them on and off DRT to isolate treatment effects.
• Authors emphasize that considering motor asymmetry could refine personalized care and call for independent replication to validate these findings.