Neuroanatomical correlates of impaired decision-making and facial emotion recognition in early Parkinson's disease

Decision‐making and recognition of emotions are often impaired in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and the amygdala are critical structures subserving these functions. This study was designed to test whether there are any structural changes in these areas that might explain the impairment of decision‐making and recognition of facial emotions in early PD. We used the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and the Ekman 60 faces test which are sensitive to the integrity of OFC and amygdala dysfunctions in 24 early PD patients and 24 controls. High‐resolution structural magnetic resonance images (MRI) were also obtained. Group analysis using voxel‐based morphometry (VBM) showed significant and corrected (P