Apathy self-awareness and its neural correlates in Parkinson’s Disease

Tools

Conn, Hannah, Suzuki, Hideo, Jin, Zekai, Marin, Ana, Zhu, Xi, Lee, Seonjoo, Huey, Edward, Radakovic, Ratko, Heilbronner, Sarah R. and Vanegas-Arroyave, Nora (2025) Apathy self-awareness and its neural correlates in Parkinson’s Disease. npj Parkinson's Disease, 11 (1). ISSN 2373-8057

[thumbnail of s41531-025-01168-9]
Preview
 PDF (s41531-025-01168-9) - Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives.
Download (1MB) | Preview

Abstract

Apathy is a prevalent non-motor symptom in Parkinson’s disease (PD) that negatively impacts quality of life. Impaired self-awareness of apathy (ISA-a) further impacts patient care by limiting engagement. While apathy has been associated with reduced fronto-striatal functional connectivity (FC), the neural basis of ISA-a remains unclear. We examined ISA-a in 52 individuals and the neural basis of ISA-a in 35 individuals with PD using a dimensional approach (i.e., initiation, executive, and emotional apathy) and resting-state fMRI (3T scanner). Apathetic PD patients (42%) showed poorer self-awareness than non-apathetic peers. Apathetic PD patients showed a trend towards reduced FC between the left anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and the left nucleus accumbens (NAcc). A trend for ISA-a in the emotional domain showed altered FC between the left NAcc and orbitofrontal cortices, and the right ACC and right anterior insular cortex. These findings suggest potential neural mechanisms underlying apathy and ISA-a to be studied in larger populations.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: Data availability: Behavioral and neuroimaging data are available on the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Data Archive (https://nda.nih.gov/), Collection ID: C3993. For access, a Data Access Request (DAR) should be submitted to the NIMH Data Archive Permissions Group (https://nda.nih.gov/nda/tutorials/electronic-data-access-request).
Uncontrolled Keywords: neurology,clinical neurology,cellular and molecular neuroscience ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2800/2808
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School
Related URLs:
Depositing User: LivePure Connector
Date Deposited: 22 May 2026 13:58
Last Modified: 22 May 2026 13:58
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/103136
DOI: 10.1038/s41531-025-01168-9

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item