Impact of thalamic deep brain Stimulation on lexical processing

The contribution of subcortical structures to language-related processing is controversial, but interestingly Deep Brain Stimulation for the treatment of Movement Disorders can go along with reduced lexical capacities. Against this background, word processing functions were assessed as a function of thalamic versus subthalamic Deep Brain Stimulation. Both on and off stimulation, 14 (2/12 f/m; 64.71 (± 7.88) years) Parkinson's disease patients with subthalamic and 10 (6/4 f/m; 68.00 (± 10.39) years) Essential Tremor patients with thalamic Deep Brain Stimulation engaged in a Lexical Decision Task, requiring the di…