Movement-related potentials in Parkinson’s disease

•We review the literature on movement-related potentials – the BP, the CNV and the LRP, in PD.•There is clear evidence that the early BP and CNV are affected in dopamine-dependent manner in PD.•LRP studies suggest impairment of motor control processes relating to the late preparation in PD.

To date, many different approaches have been used to study the impairment of motor function in Parkinson’s disease (PD). Event-related potentials (ERPs) are averaged amplitude fluctuations of the ongoing EEG activity that are time locked to specific sensory, motor or cognitive events, and as such can be used to study different brain processes with an excellent temporal resolution. Movement-related potentials (MRPs) are ERPs associated with processes of voluntary movement preparation and execution in different paradigms. In this review we concentrate on MRPs in PD. We review studies recording the Bereitschaftspotential, the Contingent Negative Variation, and the lateralized readiness potential in PD to highlight the contributions they have made to further understanding motor deficits in PD. Possible directions for future research are also discussed.