Breakdown of brain’s autopilot mode may explain Parkinson’s disease

Someone tying shoelaces

We make mistakes when we don’t concentrate – but people with Parkinson’s can avoid those errors

David Harrigan/Getty

People with Parkinson’s disease are less likely to make certain kinds of mistakes – those that happen when we are “on autopilot”. The surprising finding helps support a new theory about the condition’s root causes in the brain.

Parkinson’s disease is a progressive condition causing slowness, difficulties in moving and tremors. It involves the death of brain cells, especially those that make the signalling molecule dopamine.

In 2010, Peter Redgrave at the University of Sheffield, UK, and …