OSCR

Cognitive effects of STN-DBS on mental rotation performance in Parkinson's disease.

Overview

Authors: Marleen J. Schoenfeld1,2, Alessandro Gulberti1,3, Nicole David1, Wolfgang Hamel4, Monika Pötter-Nerger3, Andreas K. Engel1,2, Christian K. E. Moll1,2
ORCID iDs: Alessandro Gulberti
  1. Department of Neurophysiology and Pathophysiology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf,Martinistr. 52, 20246 Hamburg, Germany
  2. Hamburg Center of Neural and Cognitive Systems (HCNS), University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf,Martinistr. 52, 20246 Hamburg, Germany
  3. Department of Neurology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf,Martinistr. 52, 20246 Hamburg, Germany
  4. Department of Neurosurgery, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Martinistr. 52, 20246 Hamburg, Germany
Institutions: University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (Germany)
Journal: Scientific reports, volume 16, issue 1, article 15460
Dates: received 29 November 2025; accepted 8 May 2026; published online 19 May 2026
Type: Research article · Language: English
License: CC BY
Identifiers: DOI 10.1038/s41598-026-52880-2 · PMID 42156481 · PMCID PMC13186963 · OpenAlex W7161633376
Open access: gold, a free copy (OpenAlex)
Status: code on request
Categories: human (organism), Parkinson's (population)
Methods: Statistics, Machine learning, Connectivity
Keywords: Parkinson’s disease, Deep brain stimulation, Subthalamic nucleus, Cognitive symptoms, Mental rotation, Diseases, Neurology, Neuroscience
MeSH: Cognition*, Deep Brain Stimulation*, Parkinson Disease*, Subthalamic Nucleus*, Aged, Executive Function, Female, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Middle Aged, Rotation (* major topic)
Topic: Neurological disorders and treatments (Neurology, Medicine), according to OpenAlex
Funding: Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) (5411)
Citations: not cited yet (Europe PMC); 71 references in the paper
Research resources: RStudio42 RRID:SCR_000432, Data were analysed using R41 RRID:SCR_001905, 48 RRID:SCR_002823, RRID:SCR_002915, RRID:SCR_004757, RRID:SCR_007037, RRID:SCR_015823

Abstract

In Parkinson’s disease (PD), cognitive symptoms progressively worsen with disease progression and present a major clinical challenge that remains difficult to treat. Deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus (STN-DBS) is a widely used and clinically validated therapy for motor symptoms in PD; however, its cognitive effects remain underexplored. In this study, we examined how STN-DBS influences executive functioning, focusing on a well-established mental rotation task. In the task, patients were shown two images (reference, comparison) and were asked to decide whether the comparison image was rotated or mirrored. Twelve PD patients (6 women; mean age: 60 ± 10 years; mean disease duration: 12 ± 6 years) completed the task under two conditions: with therapeutic STN-DBS turned on and turned off. Behavioural cognitive performance was correlated with the volume of tissue activated, as determined by MR based electrode reconstruction. Results indicated that STN-DBS significantly improved mental rotation accuracy, suggesting a beneficial effect on visuospatial executive processing. Notably, stimulation involving limbic-associated regions of the right STN was associated with impaired performance, highlighting the relevance of stimulation site and its functional connectivity. Together, these findings contribute to the growing body of evidence that STN-DBS produces region-specific effects on distinct cognitive domains.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Code

The paper says that its authors' code is available on request: it was not published with the paper, so there is nothing to verify.

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Data

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Data availability

The datasets generated for this study and the analysis codes are available on request to the corresponding author AG.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Versions

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Version 1, 28 September 2026: the first record

Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, issue, pages, dates, 7 authors, 8 keywords, 12 MeSH terms, 1 funder, 64 references, 7 RRIDs.

Cite

This paper

Schoenfeld, M. J., Gulberti, A., David, N., Hamel, W., Pötter-Nerger, M., Engel, A. K., & Moll, C. K. E. (2026). Cognitive effects of STN-DBS on mental rotation performance in Parkinson's disease. Scientific reports, 16(1), 15460. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-52880-2

BibTeX

@article{schoenfeld2026cognitive,
author = {Schoenfeld, Marleen J. and Gulberti, Alessandro and David, Nicole and Hamel, Wolfgang and Pötter-Nerger, Monika and Engel, Andreas K. and Moll, Christian K. E.},
title = {{Cognitive effects of STN-DBS on mental rotation performance in Parkinson's disease}},
journal = {Scientific reports},
year = {2026},
month = may,
volume = {16},
number = {1},
pages = {15460},
publisher = {Nature Publishing Group},
issn = {2045-2322},
doi = {10.1038/s41598-026-52880-2},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-52880-2},
pmid = {42156481},
pmcid = {PMC13186963}
}

RIS

TY - JOUR
AU - Schoenfeld, Marleen J.
AU - Gulberti, Alessandro
AU - David, Nicole
AU - Hamel, Wolfgang
AU - Pötter-Nerger, Monika
AU - Engel, Andreas K.
AU - Moll, Christian K. E.
TI - Cognitive effects of STN-DBS on mental rotation performance in Parkinson's disease
T2 - Scientific reports
J2 - Sci Rep
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/05/19
VL - 16
IS - 1
SP - 15460
SN - 2045-2322
PB - Nature Publishing Group
DO - 10.1038/s41598-026-52880-2
UR - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-52880-2
LA - en
ER -

CSL-JSON

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