Example of an essay question and answer in cognitive neuroscience: Parkinson’s disease
Parkinson’s disease: symptoms, causes and potential treatments for the disease.
Definition: Parkinson’s disease is an illness caused by damage to a dopamine pathway,
subsequent of slow movements, difficulty in initiating movements, firmness of muscles and
constant shaking (Kalat, J.W. (2016).
Early symptoms: According to (Kalat, J.W. (2016) early symptoms usually includes loss of
body functions and depression. Many but not all Parkinson’s disease patients have cognitive
deficits, which may include problems with attention, language or memory.
Symptoms in detail.
Motor symptoms and Non-Motor symptoms according to J Jankovic (2008) include:
Tremor, bradykinesia, rigidity, postural instability;
Hypomimia, dysarthria, dysphagia, sialorrhoea;
Decreased arm swing, shuffling gait, festination difficulty arising from chair and turning in
bed;
Micrographia, cutting food, feeding, hygiene, slow activities of daily living and;
Glabellar reflex, blepharospasm, dystonia, striatal deformity, scoliosis, camptocormia
Non-Motor Symptoms: Cognitive impairment, bradyphrenia, tip-of-the-tongue (word
finding) phenomenon;
Depression, apathy, anhedonia, fatigue, other behavioural and psychiatric problems;
Sensory symptoms: anosmia, ageusia, pain (shoulder, back), paresthesias;
Dysautonomia (orthostatic hypotension, constipation, urinary and sexual dysfunction,
abnormal sweating, seborrhoea), weight loss and;
Sleep disorders (REM behaviour disorder, vivid dreams, daytime drowsiness, sleep
fragmentation, restless legs syndrome).
Causes: According to (Kalat, J.W. (2016). The immediate cause of Parkinson’s disease is the
loss of neurons in the Substantia Nigra leading to loss of dopamine- releasing axons to the
Parkinson’s disease: symptoms, causes and potential treatments for the disease.
Definition: Parkinson’s disease is an illness caused by damage to a dopamine pathway,
subsequent of slow movements, difficulty in initiating movements, firmness of muscles and
constant shaking (Kalat, J.W. (2016).
Early symptoms: According to (Kalat, J.W. (2016) early symptoms usually includes loss of
body functions and depression. Many but not all Parkinson’s disease patients have cognitive
deficits, which may include problems with attention, language or memory.
Symptoms in detail.
Motor symptoms and Non-Motor symptoms according to J Jankovic (2008) include:
Tremor, bradykinesia, rigidity, postural instability;
Hypomimia, dysarthria, dysphagia, sialorrhoea;
Decreased arm swing, shuffling gait, festination difficulty arising from chair and turning in
bed;
Micrographia, cutting food, feeding, hygiene, slow activities of daily living and;
Glabellar reflex, blepharospasm, dystonia, striatal deformity, scoliosis, camptocormia
Non-Motor Symptoms: Cognitive impairment, bradyphrenia, tip-of-the-tongue (word
finding) phenomenon;
Depression, apathy, anhedonia, fatigue, other behavioural and psychiatric problems;
Sensory symptoms: anosmia, ageusia, pain (shoulder, back), paresthesias;
Dysautonomia (orthostatic hypotension, constipation, urinary and sexual dysfunction,
abnormal sweating, seborrhoea), weight loss and;
Sleep disorders (REM behaviour disorder, vivid dreams, daytime drowsiness, sleep
fragmentation, restless legs syndrome).
Causes: According to (Kalat, J.W. (2016). The immediate cause of Parkinson’s disease is the
loss of neurons in the Substantia Nigra leading to loss of dopamine- releasing axons to the
