Interference from retrieval cues in Parkinson's disease

Existing studies on memory interference in Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients have provided mixed results and it is unknown whether PD patients have problems in overcoming interference from retrieval cues. We investigated this issue by using a part-list cuing paradigm. Both PD patients and control participants showed a comparable and significant part-list cuing effect after weak associative encoding, denoting a similar effect of cue-driven interference in the two populations when a serial retrieval strategy is hard to develop. However, only PD patients showed a significant part-list cuing effect after strong associative encoding. When encoding promotes the development of an effective serial retrieval strategy, the presentation of part-list cues has a specifically disruptive effect in PD patients. This indicates problems in strategic retrieval, probably related to PD patients’ increased tendency to rely on external cues.