Processing regular patterns in auditory scenes is important for navigating complex environments. Electroencephalography studies find enhancement of sustained brain activity, correlating with the emergence of a regular pattern in sounds. How aging, aging-related diseases such as Parkinson's disease (PD), and treatment of PD with dopaminergic therapy affect this fundamental function remain unknown. We addressed this knowledge gap. Healthy younger and older adults and patients with PD listened to sounds that contained or were devoid of regular patterns. Healthy older adults and patients with PD were tested twice-off and on dopaminergic medication, in counterbalanced order. Regularity-evoked, sustained electroencephalography activity was reduced in older, compared with younger adults. Patients with PD and older controls evidenced comparable attenuation of the sustained response. Dopaminergic therapy further weakened the sustained response in both older controls and patients with PD. These findings suggest that fundamental regularity processing is impacted by aging but not specifically by PD. The finding that dopaminergic therapy attenuates rather than improves the sustained response coheres with the dopamine overdose response and is in line with previous findings that regularity processing implicates brain regions receiving dopamine from the ventral tegmental area that is relatively spared in PD and normal aging.

中文翻译：

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衰老、帕金森病和外源性多巴胺对与听觉规律处理相关的神经反应的影响

处理听觉场景中的规则模式对于在复杂环境中导航很重要。脑电图研究发现持续的大脑活动增强，这与声音中规则模式的出现有关。衰老、衰老相关疾病（如帕金森病 (PD)）以及多巴胺能疗法对 PD 的治疗如何影响这一基本功能仍然未知。我们解决了这个知识差距。健康的年轻人和老年人以及 PD 患者听到的声音包含或没有规则模式。健康的老年人和 PD 患者按平衡顺序接受了两次关闭和多巴胺能药物的测试。与年轻人相比，老年人的规律性诱发的持续脑电图活动减少。PD 患者和年龄较大的对照者证明了持续反应的类似衰减。多巴胺能治疗进一步削弱了老年对照组和 PD 患者的持续反应。这些发现表明基本规律性处理受衰老影响，但不受 PD 的影响。多巴胺能治疗减弱而不是改善持续反应的发现与多巴胺过量反应一致，并且与之前的研究结果一致，即规律性处理涉及从腹侧被盖区接收多巴胺的大脑区域，该区域在 PD 和正常衰老中相对较少。这些发现表明，基本的规律性处理受衰老影响，但不受 PD 的影响。多巴胺能治疗减弱而不是改善持续反应的发现与多巴胺过量反应一致，并且与之前的研究结果一致，即规律性处理涉及从腹侧被盖区接收多巴胺的大脑区域，该区域在 PD 和正常衰老中相对较少。这些发现表明基本规律性处理受衰老影响，但不受 PD 的影响。多巴胺能治疗减弱而不是改善持续反应的发现与多巴胺过量反应一致，并且与之前的研究结果一致，即规律性处理涉及从腹侧被盖区接收多巴胺的大脑区域，该区域在 PD 和正常衰老中相对较少。