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Xie X, Zhou R, Fang Z, Zhang Y, Wang Q, Liu X. Seeing beyond words: Visualizing autism spectrum disorder biomarker insights. Heliyon 2024; 10:e30420. [PMID: 38694128 PMCID: PMC11061761 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e30420] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/07/2023] [Revised: 04/24/2024] [Accepted: 04/25/2024] [Indexed: 05/04/2024] Open
Abstract
Objective This study employs bibliometric and visual analysis to elucidate global research trends in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) biomarkers, identify critical research focal points, and discuss the potential integration of diverse biomarker modalities for precise ASD assessment. Methods A comprehensive bibliometric analysis was conducted using data from the Web of Science Core Collection database until December 31, 2022. Visualization tools, including R, VOSviewer, CiteSpace, and gCLUTO, were utilized to examine collaborative networks, co-citation patterns, and keyword associations among countries, institutions, authors, journals, documents, and keywords. Results ASD biomarker research emerged in 2004, accumulating a corpus of 4348 documents by December 31, 2022. The United States, with 1574 publications and an H-index of 213, emerged as the most prolific and influential country. The University of California, Davis, contributed significantly with 346 publications and an H-index of 69, making it the leading institution. Concerning journals, the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, Autism Research, and PLOS ONE were the top three publishers of ASD biomarker-related articles among a total of 1140 academic journals. Co-citation and keyword analyses revealed research hotspots in genetics, imaging, oxidative stress, neuroinflammation, gut microbiota, and eye tracking. Emerging topics included "DNA methylation," "eye tracking," "metabolomics," and "resting-state fMRI." Conclusion The field of ASD biomarker research is dynamically evolving. Future endeavors should prioritize individual stratification, methodological standardization, the harmonious integration of biomarker modalities, and longitudinal studies to advance the precision of ASD diagnosis and treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xinyue Xie
- The First Affiliated Hospital of Henan University of Chinese Medicine, Pediatrics Hospital, Zhengzhou, Henan, 450000, China
- Henan University of Chinese Medicine, School of Pediatrics, Zhengzhou, Henan, 450046, China
| | - Rongyi Zhou
- The First Affiliated Hospital of Henan University of Chinese Medicine, Pediatrics Hospital, Zhengzhou, Henan, 450000, China
- Henan University of Chinese Medicine, School of Pediatrics, Zhengzhou, Henan, 450046, China
| | - Zihan Fang
- Henan University of Chinese Medicine, School of Pediatrics, Zhengzhou, Henan, 450046, China
| | - Yongting Zhang
- The First Affiliated Hospital of Henan University of Chinese Medicine, Pediatrics Hospital, Zhengzhou, Henan, 450000, China
- Henan University of Chinese Medicine, School of Pediatrics, Zhengzhou, Henan, 450046, China
| | - Qirong Wang
- Henan University of Chinese Medicine, School of Pediatrics, Zhengzhou, Henan, 450046, China
| | - Xiaomian Liu
- Henan University of Chinese Medicine, School of Medicine, Zhengzhou, Henan, 450046, China
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2
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Mirzai N, Polet K, Morisot A, Hesse S, Pesce A, Louchart de la Chapelle S, Iakimova G. Can the Ability to Recognize Facial Emotions in Individuals With Neurodegenerative Disease be Improved? A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Cogn Behav Neurol 2023; 36:202-218. [PMID: 37410880 PMCID: PMC10683976 DOI: 10.1097/wnn.0000000000000348] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2022] [Accepted: 03/30/2023] [Indexed: 07/08/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Facial emotion recognition (FER) is commonly impaired in individuals with neurodegenerative disease (NDD). This impairment has been linked to an increase in behavioral disorders and caregiver burden. OBJECTIVE To identify interventions targeting the improvement of FER ability in individuals with NDD and investigate the magnitude of the efficacy of the interventions. We also wanted to explore the duration of the effects of the intervention and their possible impacts on behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia and caregiver burden. METHOD We included 15 studies with 604 individuals who had been diagnosed with NDD. The identified interventions were categorized into three types of approach (cognitive, neurostimulation, and pharmacological) as well as a combined approach (neurostimulation with pharmacological). RESULTS The three types of approaches pooled together had a significant large effect size for FER ability improvement (standard mean difference: 1.21, 95% CI = 0.11, 2.31, z = 2.15, P = 0.03). The improvement lasted post intervention, in tandem with a decrease in behavioral disorders and caregiver burden. CONCLUSION A combination of different approaches for FER ability improvement may be beneficial for individuals with NDD and their caregivers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Naz Mirzai
- Clinical Research Unit–Memory Clinic, Princess Grace Hospital, Monaco
- Cote d’Azur University, Laboratory of Clinical, Cognitive and Social Anthropology and Psychology, Nice, France
| | - Kévin Polet
- Clinical Research Unit–Memory Clinic, Princess Grace Hospital, Monaco
| | - Adeline Morisot
- Clinical Research Unit–Memory Clinic, Princess Grace Hospital, Monaco
- Public Health Department, Cote d’Azur University, University Hospital Center of Nice, Nice, France
| | - Solange Hesse
- Clinical Research Unit–Memory Clinic, Princess Grace Hospital, Monaco
| | - Alain Pesce
- Bibliographic Research Association for Neurosciences, Nice, France
| | | | - Galina Iakimova
- Cote d’Azur University, Laboratory of Clinical, Cognitive and Social Anthropology and Psychology, Nice, France
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3
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Stam D, Rosseel S, De Winter FL, Van den Bossche MJA, Vandenbulcke M, Van den Stock J. Facial expression recognition deficits in frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer's disease: a meta-analytic investigation of effects of phenotypic variant, task modality, geographical region and symptomatic specificity. J Neurol 2023; 270:5731-5755. [PMID: 37672106 DOI: 10.1007/s00415-023-11927-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2023] [Revised: 08/05/2023] [Accepted: 08/08/2023] [Indexed: 09/07/2023]
Abstract
Deficits in social cognition may be present in frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and Alzheimer's disease (AD). Here, we conduct a qualitative synthesis and meta-analysis of facial expression recognition studies in which we compare the deficits between both disorders. Furthermore, we investigate the specificity of the deficit regarding phenotypic variant, domain-specificity, emotion category, task modality, and geographical region. The results reveal that both FTD and AD are associated with facial expression recognition deficits, that this deficit is more pronounced in FTD compared to AD and that this applies for the behavioral as well as for language FTD-variants, with no difference between the latter two. In both disorders, overall emotion recognition was most frequently impaired, followed by recognition of anger in FTD and by fear in AD. Verbal categorization was the most frequently used task, although matching or intensity rating tasks may be more specific. Studies from Oceania revealed larger deficits. On the other hand, non-emotional control tasks were more impacted by AD than by FTD. The present findings sharpen the social cognitive phenotype of FTD and AD, and support the use of social cognition assessment in late-life neuropsychiatric disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daphne Stam
- KU Leuven, Leuven Brain Institute, Neuropsychiatry, 3000, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Simon Rosseel
- KU Leuven, Leuven Brain Institute, Neuropsychiatry, 3000, Leuven, Belgium
| | - François-Laurent De Winter
- KU Leuven, Leuven Brain Institute, Neuropsychiatry, 3000, Leuven, Belgium
- Geriatric Psychiatry, University Psychiatric Center KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Maarten J A Van den Bossche
- KU Leuven, Leuven Brain Institute, Neuropsychiatry, 3000, Leuven, Belgium
- Geriatric Psychiatry, University Psychiatric Center KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Mathieu Vandenbulcke
- KU Leuven, Leuven Brain Institute, Neuropsychiatry, 3000, Leuven, Belgium
- Geriatric Psychiatry, University Psychiatric Center KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Jan Van den Stock
- KU Leuven, Leuven Brain Institute, Neuropsychiatry, 3000, Leuven, Belgium.
- Geriatric Psychiatry, University Psychiatric Center KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
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4
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Vandenbulcke M, Van de Vliet L, Sun J, Huang YA, Van Den Bossche MJA, Sunaert S, Peeters R, Zhu Q, Vanduffel W, de Gelder B, De Winter FL, Van den Stock J. A paleo-neurologic investigation of the social brain hypothesis in frontotemporal dementia. Cereb Cortex 2023; 33:622-633. [PMID: 35253853 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhac089] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/10/2021] [Revised: 02/09/2022] [Accepted: 02/10/2022] [Indexed: 02/03/2023] Open
Abstract
The social brain hypothesis posits that a disproportionate encephalization in primates enabled to adapt behavior to a social context. Also, it has been proposed that phylogenetically recent brain areas are disproportionally affected by neurodegeneration. Using structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging, the present study investigates brain-behavior associations and neural integrity of hyperspecialized and domain-general cortical social brain areas in behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD). The results revealed that both structure and function of hyperspecialized social areas in the middle portion of the superior temporal sulcus (STS) are compromised in bvFTD, while no deterioration was observed in domain general social areas in the posterior STS. While the structural findings adhered to an anterior-posterior gradient, the functional group differences only occurred in the hyperspecialized locations. Activity in specialized regions was associated with structural integrity of the amygdala and with social deficits in bvFTD. In conclusion, the results are in line with the paleo-neurology hypothesis positing that neurodegeneration primarily hits cortical areas showing increased specialization, but also with the compatible alternative explanation that anterior STS regions degenerate earlier, based on stronger connections to and trans-neuronal spreading from regions affected early in bvFTD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mathieu Vandenbulcke
- Neuropsychiatry, Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, Leuven 3000, Belgium.,Geriatric Psychiatry, University Psychiatric Center KU Leuven, Leuven 3000, Belgium
| | - Laura Van de Vliet
- Neuropsychiatry, Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, Leuven 3000, Belgium
| | - Jiaze Sun
- Neuropsychiatry, Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, Leuven 3000, Belgium
| | - Yun-An Huang
- Neuropsychiatry, Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, Leuven 3000, Belgium
| | - Maarten J A Van Den Bossche
- Neuropsychiatry, Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, Leuven 3000, Belgium.,Geriatric Psychiatry, University Psychiatric Center KU Leuven, Leuven 3000, Belgium
| | - Stefan Sunaert
- Department of Radiology, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven 3000, Belgium.,Department of Imaging and Pathology, KU Leuven, Leuven 3000, Belgium
| | - Ron Peeters
- Department of Radiology, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven 3000, Belgium.,Department of Imaging and Pathology, KU Leuven, Leuven 3000, Belgium
| | - Qi Zhu
- Laboratory for Neuro- and Psychophysiology, Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, Leuven 3000, Belgium
| | - Wim Vanduffel
- Laboratory for Neuro- and Psychophysiology, Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, Leuven 3000, Belgium.,Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA.,Department of Radiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02144, USA
| | - Beatrice de Gelder
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht 6229 EV, The Netherlands.,Department of Computer Science, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK
| | - François-Laurent De Winter
- Neuropsychiatry, Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, Leuven 3000, Belgium.,Geriatric Psychiatry, University Psychiatric Center KU Leuven, Leuven 3000, Belgium
| | - Jan Van den Stock
- Neuropsychiatry, Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, Leuven 3000, Belgium.,Geriatric Psychiatry, University Psychiatric Center KU Leuven, Leuven 3000, Belgium
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5
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Neural compensation in manifest neurodegeneration: systems neuroscience evidence from social cognition in frontotemporal dementia. J Neurol 2023; 270:538-547. [PMID: 36163388 DOI: 10.1007/s00415-022-11393-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2022] [Revised: 09/13/2022] [Accepted: 09/19/2022] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND It has been argued that symptom onset in neurodegeneration reflects the overload of compensatory mechanisms. The present study aimed to investigate whether neural functional compensation can be observed in the manifest neurodegenerative disease stage, by focusing on a core deficit in frontotemporal dementia, i.e. social cognition, and by combining psychophysical assessment, structural MRI and functional MRI with multidimensional neural markers that allow quantification of neural computations. METHODS Nineteen patients with clinically manifest behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) and 20 controls performed facial expression recognition tasks in the MRI-scanner and offline. Group differences in grey matter volume, neural response amplitude and neural patterns were assessed via a combination of voxel-wise whole-brain, searchlight, and ROI-analyses and these measures were correlated with psychophysical measures of emotion, valence and arousal ratings. RESULTS Significant group effects were observed only outside task-relevant regions, converging in the caudate nucleus. This area showed a diagnostic neural pattern as well as hyperactivation and stronger neural representation of facial expressions in the bvFTD sample. Furthermore, response amplitude was associated with behavioral arousal ratings. CONCLUSIONS The combined findings reveal converging support for compensatory processes in clinically manifest neurodegeneration, complementing accounts that clinical onset synchronizes with the breakdown of compensatory processes. Furthermore, active compensation may proceed along nodes in intrinsically connected networks, rather than along the more task-specific networks. The findings underscore the potential of distributed multidimensional functional neural characteristics that may provide a novel class of biomarkers with both diagnostic and therapeutic implications, including biomarkers for clinical trials.
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6
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Dilcher R, Malpas CB, O'Brien TJ, Vivash L. Social Cognition in Behavioral Variant Frontotemporal Dementia and Pathological Subtypes: A Narrative Review. J Alzheimers Dis 2023; 94:19-38. [PMID: 37212100 DOI: 10.3233/jad-221171] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/23/2023]
Abstract
Behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) belongs to the spectrum of frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) and is characterized by frontal dysfunction with executive deficits and prominent socioemotional impairments. Social cognition, such as emotion processing, theory of mind, and empathy may significantly impact daily behavior in bvFTD. Abnormal protein accumulation of tau or TDP-43 are the main causes of neurodegeneration and cognitive decline. Differential diagnosis is difficult due to the heterogeneous pathology in bvFTD and the high clinicopathological overlap with other FTLD syndromes, especially in late disease stages. Despite recent advances, social cognition in bvFTD has not yet received sufficient attention, nor has its association with underlying pathology. This narrative review evaluates social behavior and social cognition in bvFTD, by relating these symptoms to neural correlates and underlying molecular pathology or genetic subtypes. Negative and positive behavioral symptoms, such as apathy and disinhibition, share similar brain atrophy and reflect social cognition. More complex social cognitive impairments are probably caused by the interference of executive impairments due to increasing neurodegeneration. Evidence suggests that underlying TDP-43 is associated with neuropsychiatric and early social cognitive dysfunction, while patients with underlying tau pathology are marked by strong cognitive dysfunction with increasing social impairments in later stages. Despite many current research gaps and controversies, finding distinct social cognitive markers in association to underlying pathology in bvFTD is essential for validating biomarkers, for clinical trials of novel therapies, and for clinical practice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roxane Dilcher
- Department of Neurosciences, Central Clinical School, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Charles B Malpas
- Department of Neurosciences, Central Clinical School, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
- Department of Medicine and Radiology, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia
- Department of Neurology, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Parkville, Australia
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
- Department of Neurology, Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Terence J O'Brien
- Department of Neurosciences, Central Clinical School, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
- Department of Medicine and Radiology, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia
- Department of Neurology, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Parkville, Australia
- Department of Neurology, Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Lucy Vivash
- Department of Neurosciences, Central Clinical School, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
- Department of Medicine and Radiology, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia
- Department of Neurology, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Parkville, Australia
- Department of Neurology, Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, Australia
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7
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Dilcher R, Malpas CB, Walterfang M, Velakoulis D, O’Brien TJ, Vivash L. Sodium selenate as a therapeutic for tauopathies: A hypothesis paper. Front Aging Neurosci 2022; 14:915460. [PMID: 35992608 PMCID: PMC9389397 DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2022.915460] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2022] [Accepted: 07/07/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
In a large proportion of individuals with fronto-temporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), the underlying pathology is associated with the misfolding and aggregation of the microtubule associated protein tau (FTLD-tau). With disease progression, widespread protein accumulation throughout cortical and subcortical brain regions may be responsible for neurodegeneration. One of the syndromes of FTLD is the behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD), in which the underlying pathology is heterogenous, with half of the cases being related to FTLD-tau. Currently, there are no approved disease-modifying treatments for FTLD-tau, therefore representing a major unmet therapeutic need. These descriptive, preliminary findings of the phase 1 open-label trial provide data to support the potential of sodium selenate to halt the cognitive and behavioral decline, as well as to reduce tau levels in a small group of participants with bvFTD (N = 11). All participants were treated with sodium selenate over a period of 52 weeks. Cognition was assessed with the Neuropsychiatry Unit Cognitive Assessment Tool (NUCOG, total scores), social cognition with the Revised Self-Monitoring Scale (RSMS, total scores), behavior with the Cambridge Behavioral Inventory (CBI), and carer burden with the Caregiver Buden Scale (CBS). Fluid biomarker measures include cerebrospinal fluid of total tau (t-tau), phosphorylated tau (p-tau181), NfL, p-tau181/t-tau, t-tau/Aβ1-42, and p-tau181/Aβ1-42 levels. After treatment at follow-up, cognition and behavior showed further negative change (based on a reliable change criterion cut-off of annual NUCOG decline) in the "progressors," but not in the "non-progressors." "Non-progressors" also showed elevated baseline CSF tau levels and no increase after treatment, indicating underlying tau pathology and a positive response to sodium selenate treatment. Significant changes in MRI were not observed. The findings provide useful information for future clinical trials to systematically assess the disease-modifying treatment effects of sodium selenate in randomized controlled designs for bvFTD and FTLD-tau pathologies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roxane Dilcher
- Department of Neurosciences, Central Clinical School, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Charles B. Malpas
- Department of Neurosciences, Central Clinical School, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
- Department of Medicine and Radiology, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
- Department of Neurology, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
- Clinical Outcomes Research Unit (CORe), Department of Medicine, Royal Melbourne Hospital, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Mark Walterfang
- Neuropsychiatry Unit, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
- Department of Psychiatry and Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Center, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Dennis Velakoulis
- Department of Neurology, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
- Neuropsychiatry Unit, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
- Department of Psychiatry and Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Center, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Terence J. O’Brien
- Department of Neurosciences, Central Clinical School, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
- Department of Medicine and Radiology, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
- Department of Neurology, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
- Department of Neurology, Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Lucy Vivash
- Department of Neurosciences, Central Clinical School, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
- Department of Medicine and Radiology, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
- Department of Neurology, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
- Department of Neurology, Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
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8
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Meersmans K, Storms G, De Deyne S, Bruffaerts R, Dupont P, Vandenberghe R. Orienting to Different Dimensions of Word Meaning Alters the Representation of Word Meaning in Early Processing Regions. Cereb Cortex 2021; 32:3302-3317. [PMID: 34963135 PMCID: PMC9340395 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhab416] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2021] [Revised: 10/19/2021] [Accepted: 10/20/2021] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Conscious processing of word meaning can be guided by attention. In this event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging study in 22 healthy young volunteers, we examined in which regions orienting attention to two fundamental and generic dimensions of word meaning, concreteness versus valence, alters the semantic representations coded in activity patterns. The stimuli consisted of 120 nouns in written or spoken modality which varied factorially along the concreteness and valence axis. Participants performed a forced-choice judgement of either concreteness or valence. Rostral and subgenual anterior cingulate were strongly activated during valence judgement, and precuneus and the dorsal attention network during concreteness judgement. Task and stimulus type interacted in right posterior fusiform gyrus, left lingual gyrus, precuneus, and insula. In the right posterior fusiform gyrus and the left lingual gyrus, the correlation between the pairwise similarity in activity patterns evoked by words and the pairwise distance in valence and concreteness was modulated by the direction of attention, word valence or concreteness. The data indicate that orienting attention to basic dimensions of word meaning exerts effects on the representation of word meaning in more peripheral nodes, such as the ventral occipital cortex, rather than the core perisylvian language regions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karen Meersmans
- Laboratory for Cognitive Neurology, Department of Neurosciences, Leuven Brain Institute, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
| | - Gerrit Storms
- Laboratory of Experimental Psychology, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
| | - Simon De Deyne
- Computational Cognitive Science Lab, Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, 3010 Melbourne, Australia
| | - Rose Bruffaerts
- Laboratory for Cognitive Neurology, Department of Neurosciences, Leuven Brain Institute, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
| | - Patrick Dupont
- Laboratory for Cognitive Neurology, Department of Neurosciences, Leuven Brain Institute, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
| | - Rik Vandenberghe
- Laboratory for Cognitive Neurology, Department of Neurosciences, Leuven Brain Institute, 3000 Leuven, Belgium.,Neurology Department, University Hospitals Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
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9
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Geraudie A, Battista P, García AM, Allen IE, Miller ZA, Gorno-Tempini ML, Montembeault M. Speech and language impairments in behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia: A systematic review. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2021; 131:1076-1095. [PMID: 34673112 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.10.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/10/2021] [Revised: 10/12/2021] [Accepted: 10/14/2021] [Indexed: 01/11/2023]
Abstract
Although behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) is classically defined by behavioral and socio-emotional changes, impairments often extend to other cognitive functions. These include early speech and language deficits related to the disease's core neural disruptions. Yet, their scope and clinical relevance remains poorly understood. This systematic review characterizes such disturbances in bvFTD, considering clinically, neuroanatomically, genetically, and neuropathologically defined subgroups. We included 181 experimental studies, with at least 5 bvFTD patients diagnosed using accepted criteria, comparing speech and language outcomes between bvFTD patients and healthy controls or between bvFTD subgroups. Results reveal extensive and heterogeneous deficits across cohorts, with (a) consistent lexico-semantic, reading & writing, and prosodic impairments; (b) inconsistent deficits in motor speech and grammar; and (c) relative preservation of phonological skills. Also, preliminary findings suggest that the severity of speech and language deficits might be associated with global cognitive impairment, predominantly temporal or fronto-temporal atrophy and MAPT mutations (vs C9orf72). Although under-recognized, these impairments contribute to patient characterization and phenotyping, while potentially informing diagnosis and management.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amandine Geraudie
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, CA, USA; Neurology Department, Toulouse University Hospital, Toulouse, France
| | - Petronilla Battista
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, CA, USA; Global Brain Health Institute, University of California, San Francisco, USA; Istituti Clinici Scientifici Maugeri IRCCS, Institute of Bari, Via Generale Nicola Bellomo, Bari, Italy
| | - Adolfo M García
- Global Brain Health Institute, University of California, San Francisco, USA; Universidad De San Andrés, Buenos Aires, Argentina; National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina; Departamento de Lingüística y Literatura, Facultad de Humanidades, Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Santiago, Chile
| | - Isabel E Allen
- Global Brain Health Institute, University of California, San Francisco, USA; Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, University of California San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Zachary A Miller
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Maria Luisa Gorno-Tempini
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, CA, USA; Global Brain Health Institute, University of California, San Francisco, USA
| | - Maxime Montembeault
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, CA, USA.
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10
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Ahmed RM, Bocchetta M, Todd EG, Tse NY, Devenney EM, Tu S, Caga J, Hodges JR, Halliday GM, Irish M, Kiernan MC, Piguet O, Rohrer JD. Tackling clinical heterogeneity across the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis-frontotemporal dementia spectrum using a transdiagnostic approach. Brain Commun 2021; 3:fcab257. [PMID: 34805999 PMCID: PMC8599039 DOI: 10.1093/braincomms/fcab257] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2021] [Revised: 07/31/2021] [Accepted: 08/18/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
The disease syndromes of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) display considerable clinical, genetic and pathological overlap, yet mounting evidence indicates substantial differences in progression and survival. To date, there has been limited examination of how profiles of brain atrophy might differ between clinical phenotypes. Here, we address this longstanding gap in the literature by assessing cortical and subcortical grey and white matter volumes on structural MRI in a large cohort of 209 participants. Cognitive and behavioural changes were assessed using the Addenbrooke’s Cognitive Examination and the Cambridge Behavioural Inventory. Relative to 58 controls, behavioural variant FTD (n = 58) and ALS–FTD (n = 41) patients displayed extensive atrophy of frontoinsular, cingulate, temporal and motor cortices, with marked subcortical atrophy targeting the hippocampus, amygdala, thalamus and striatum, with atrophy further extended to the brainstem, pons and cerebellum in the latter group. At the other end of the spectrum, pure-ALS patients (n = 52) displayed considerable frontoparietal atrophy, including right insular and motor cortices and pons and brainstem regions. Subcortical regions included the bilateral pallidum and putamen, but to a lesser degree than in the ALS–FTD and behavioural variant FTD groups. Across the spectrum the most affected region in all three groups was the insula, and specifically the anterior part (76–90% lower than controls). Direct comparison of the patient groups revealed disproportionate temporal atrophy and widespread subcortical involvement in ALS–FTD relative to pure-ALS. In contrast, pure-ALS displayed significantly greater parietal atrophy. Both behavioural variant FTD and ALS–FTD were characterized by volume decrease in the frontal lobes relative to pure-ALS. The motor cortex and insula emerged as differentiating structures between clinical syndromes, with bilateral motor cortex atrophy more pronounced in ALS–FTD compared with pure-ALS, and greater left motor cortex and insula atrophy relative to behavioural variant FTD. Taking a transdiagnostic approach, we found significant associations between abnormal behaviour and volume loss in a predominantly frontoinsular network involving the amygdala, striatum and thalamus. Our findings demonstrate the presence of distinct atrophy profiles across the ALS–FTD spectrum, with key structures including the motor cortex and insula. Notably, our results point to subcortical involvement in the origin of behavioural disturbances, potentially accounting for the marked phenotypic variability typically observed across the spectrum.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rebekah M Ahmed
- Memory and Cognition Clinic, Institute of Clinical Neurosciences, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney 2050, Australia.,Brain and Mind Centre, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2050, Australia
| | - Martina Bocchetta
- Dementia Research Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London WC1E, UK
| | - Emily G Todd
- Dementia Research Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London WC1E, UK
| | - Nga Yan Tse
- Brain and Mind Centre, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2050, Australia
| | - Emma M Devenney
- Brain and Mind Centre, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2050, Australia
| | - Sicong Tu
- Brain and Mind Centre, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2050, Australia
| | - Jashelle Caga
- Brain and Mind Centre, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2050, Australia
| | - John R Hodges
- Brain and Mind Centre, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2050, Australia.,School of Psychology and Brain and Mind Centre, The University of Sydney, Sydney 2050, Australia
| | - Glenda M Halliday
- Brain and Mind Centre, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2050, Australia
| | - Muireann Irish
- School of Psychology and Brain and Mind Centre, The University of Sydney, Sydney 2050, Australia
| | - Matthew C Kiernan
- Memory and Cognition Clinic, Institute of Clinical Neurosciences, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney 2050, Australia.,Brain and Mind Centre, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2050, Australia
| | - Olivier Piguet
- School of Psychology and Brain and Mind Centre, The University of Sydney, Sydney 2050, Australia
| | - Jonathan D Rohrer
- Dementia Research Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London WC1E, UK
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11
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Bocchetta M, Malpetti M, Todd EG, Rowe JB, Rohrer JD. Looking beneath the surface: the importance of subcortical structures in frontotemporal dementia. Brain Commun 2021; 3:fcab158. [PMID: 34458729 PMCID: PMC8390477 DOI: 10.1093/braincomms/fcab158] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 05/21/2021] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Whilst initial anatomical studies of frontotemporal dementia focussed on cortical involvement, the relevance of subcortical structures to the pathophysiology of frontotemporal dementia has been increasingly recognized over recent years. Key structures affected include the caudate, putamen, nucleus accumbens, and globus pallidus within the basal ganglia, the hippocampus and amygdala within the medial temporal lobe, the basal forebrain, and the diencephalon structures of the thalamus, hypothalamus and habenula. At the most posterior aspect of the brain, focal involvement of brainstem and cerebellum has recently also been shown in certain subtypes of frontotemporal dementia. Many of the neuroimaging studies on subcortical structures in frontotemporal dementia have been performed in clinically defined sporadic cases. However, investigations of genetically- and pathologically-confirmed forms of frontotemporal dementia are increasingly common and provide molecular specificity to the changes observed. Furthermore, detailed analyses of sub-nuclei and subregions within each subcortical structure are being added to the literature, allowing refinement of the patterns of subcortical involvement. This review focuses on the existing literature on structural imaging and neuropathological studies of subcortical anatomy across the spectrum of frontotemporal dementia, along with investigations of brain–behaviour correlates that examine the cognitive sequelae of specific subcortical involvement: it aims to ‘look beneath the surface’ and summarize the patterns of subcortical involvement have been described in frontotemporal dementia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martina Bocchetta
- Dementia Research Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Maura Malpetti
- Department of Clinical Neurosciences and Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Trust, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Emily G Todd
- Dementia Research Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK
| | - James B Rowe
- Department of Clinical Neurosciences and Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Trust, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.,Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Jonathan D Rohrer
- Dementia Research Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK
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12
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Facial expression recognition: A meta-analytic review of theoretical models and neuroimaging evidence. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2021; 127:820-836. [PMID: 34052280 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.05.023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/01/2020] [Revised: 04/03/2021] [Accepted: 05/24/2021] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Discrimination of facial expressions is an elementary function of the human brain. While the way emotions are represented in the brain has long been debated, common and specific neural representations in recognition of facial expressions are also complicated. To examine brain organizations and asymmetry on discrete and dimensional facial emotions, we conducted an activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis and meta-analytic connectivity modelling on 141 studies with a total of 3138 participants. We found consistent engagement of the amygdala and a common set of brain networks across discrete and dimensional emotions. The left-hemisphere dominance of the amygdala and AI across categories of facial expression, but category-specific lateralization of the vmPFC, suggesting a flexibly asymmetrical neural representations of facial expression recognition. These results converge to characteristic activation and connectivity patterns across discrete and dimensional emotion categories in recognition of facial expressions. Our findings provide the first quantitatively meta-analytic brain network-based evidence supportive of the psychological constructionist hypothesis in facial expression recognition.
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Kinney NG, Bove J, Phillips JS, Cousins KAQ, Olm CA, Wakeman DG, McMillan CT, Massimo L. Social and leisure activity are associated with attenuated cortical loss in behavioral variant frontotemporal degeneration. Neuroimage Clin 2021; 30:102629. [PMID: 33770546 PMCID: PMC8024767 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2021.102629] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2020] [Revised: 02/16/2021] [Accepted: 03/07/2021] [Indexed: 12/04/2022]
Abstract
Behavioral variant frontotemporal degeneration (bvFTD) is clinically characterized by progressive decline in social and executive domains. Previous work suggests that early lifestyle factors such as education and occupational attainment may relate to structural integrity and moderate the rate of cognitive decline in bvFTD, but the role of other cognitively stimulating activities is understudied. We sought to investigate the effect of such activities on cortical thickness (CT) in bvFTD. bvFTD patients (n = 31) completed a baseline MRI scan, and informants for the patients completed the Lifetime of Experiences Questionnaire (LEQ), which measures specific activities considered to be undertaken primarily within one particular life phase, such as education (young-life), occupation (mid-life), and social/leisure activity (late-life). At baseline, linear models assessed the effect of LEQ scores from each life phase on regional CT. A subset (n = 19) of patients completed longitudinal MRI, and to evaluate the association of LEQ with longitudinal rates of CT decline, we derived individualized slopes of decline using linear mixed effects models and these were related to LEQ scores from each life phase. At baseline, a higher late-life LEQ score was associated with less atrophy in left superior and inferior anterior temporal regions as well as right middle temporal gyrus. Longitudinally, we observed that higher late-life LEQ scores were associated with an attenuated rate of CT loss in insular cortex. Late-life LEQ score was positively associated with both relatively preserved CT early in bvFTD and a slower rate of cortical loss in regions important for social functioning. These findings suggest that social and leisure activities may contribute to a form of resilience against pathologic effects of disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nikolas G Kinney
- Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, Perelman School of Medicine, Department of Neurology, Philadelphia, PA, United States
| | - Jessica Bove
- Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, Perelman School of Medicine, Department of Neurology, Philadelphia, PA, United States
| | - Jeffrey S Phillips
- Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, Perelman School of Medicine, Department of Neurology, Philadelphia, PA, United States
| | - Katheryn A Q Cousins
- Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, Perelman School of Medicine, Department of Neurology, Philadelphia, PA, United States
| | - Christopher A Olm
- Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, Perelman School of Medicine, Department of Neurology, Philadelphia, PA, United States
| | - Daniel G Wakeman
- Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, Perelman School of Medicine, Department of Neurology, Philadelphia, PA, United States
| | - Corey T McMillan
- Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, Perelman School of Medicine, Department of Neurology, Philadelphia, PA, United States
| | - Lauren Massimo
- Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, Perelman School of Medicine, Department of Neurology, Philadelphia, PA, United States; School of Nursing, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States.
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14
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15
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Blunted neural response to emotional faces in the fusiform and superior temporal gyrus may be marker of emotion recognition deficits in pediatric epilepsy. Epilepsy Behav 2020; 112:107432. [PMID: 32919203 PMCID: PMC7895303 DOI: 10.1016/j.yebeh.2020.107432] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2020] [Revised: 07/17/2020] [Accepted: 08/12/2020] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Abstract
Individuals with epilepsy are at risk for social cognition deficits, including impairments in the ability to recognize nonverbal cues of emotion (i.e., emotion recognition [ER] skills). Such deficits are particularly pronounced in adult patients with childhood-onset seizures and are already evident in children and adolescents with epilepsy. Though these impairments have been linked to blunted neural response to emotional information in faces in adult patients, little is known about the neural correlates of ER deficits in youth with epilepsy. The current study compared ER accuracy and neural response to emotional faces during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in youth with intractable focal epilepsy and typically developing youth. Relative to typically developing participants, individuals with epilepsy showed a) reduced accuracy in the ER task and b) blunted response to emotional faces (vs. neutral faces) in the bilateral fusiform gyri and right superior temporal gyrus (STG). Activation in these regions was correlated with performance, suggesting that aberrant response within these face-responsive regions may play a functional role in ER impairments. Reduced engagement of neural circuits relevant to processing socioemotional cues may be markers of risk for social cognitive deficits in youth with focal epilepsy.
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16
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Van den Stock J, De Winter FL, Emsell L, Kumfor F, Vandenbulcke M. Brain-behaviour associations and neural representations of emotions in frontotemporal dementia. Brain 2020; 143:e17. [PMID: 32003783 DOI: 10.1093/brain/awaa005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Jan Van den Stock
- Laboratory for Translational Neuropsychiatry, Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.,Geriatric Psychiatry, University Psychiatric Center KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - François-Laurent De Winter
- Laboratory for Translational Neuropsychiatry, Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.,Geriatric Psychiatry, University Psychiatric Center KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Louise Emsell
- Laboratory for Translational Neuropsychiatry, Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.,Geriatric Psychiatry, University Psychiatric Center KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.,Translational MRI, Department of Imaging and Pathology, KU Leuven, Belgium
| | - Fiona Kumfor
- University of Sydney, School of Psychology and Brain and Mind Centre, Australia
| | - Mathieu Vandenbulcke
- Laboratory for Translational Neuropsychiatry, Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.,Geriatric Psychiatry, University Psychiatric Center KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
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17
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Marshall CR, Hardy CJD, Russell LL, Bond RL, Sivasathiaseelan H, Greaves C, Moore KM, Agustus JL, van Leeuwen JEP, Wastling SJ, Rohrer JD, Kilner JM, Warren JD. The functional neuroanatomy of emotion processing in frontotemporal dementias. Brain 2020; 142:2873-2887. [PMID: 31321407 PMCID: PMC7959336 DOI: 10.1093/brain/awz204] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2018] [Revised: 05/08/2019] [Accepted: 05/12/2019] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Impaired processing of emotional signals is a core feature of frontotemporal dementia syndromes, but the underlying neural mechanisms have proved challenging to characterize and measure. Progress in this field may depend on detecting functional changes in the working brain, and disentangling components of emotion processing that include sensory decoding, emotion categorization and emotional contagion. We addressed this using functional MRI of naturalistic, dynamic facial emotion processing with concurrent indices of autonomic arousal, in a cohort of patients representing all major frontotemporal dementia syndromes relative to healthy age-matched individuals. Seventeen patients with behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia [four female; mean (standard deviation) age 64.8 (6.8) years], 12 with semantic variant primary progressive aphasia [four female; 66.9 (7.0) years], nine with non-fluent variant primary progressive aphasia [five female; 67.4 (8.1) years] and 22 healthy controls [12 female; 68.6 (6.8) years] passively viewed videos of universal facial expressions during functional MRI acquisition, with simultaneous heart rate and pupillometric recordings; emotion identification accuracy was assessed in a post-scan behavioural task. Relative to healthy controls, patient groups showed significant impairments (analysis of variance models, all P < 0.05) of facial emotion identification (all syndromes) and cardiac (all syndromes) and pupillary (non-fluent variant only) reactivity. Group-level functional neuroanatomical changes were assessed using statistical parametric mapping, thresholded at P < 0.05 after correction for multiple comparisons over the whole brain or within pre-specified regions of interest. In response to viewing facial expressions, all participant groups showed comparable activation of primary visual cortex while patient groups showed differential hypo-activation of fusiform and posterior temporo-occipital junctional cortices. Bi-hemispheric, syndrome-specific activations predicting facial emotion identification performance were identified (behavioural variant, anterior insula and caudate; semantic variant, anterior temporal cortex; non-fluent variant, frontal operculum). The semantic and non-fluent variant groups additionally showed complex profiles of central parasympathetic and sympathetic autonomic involvement that overlapped signatures of emotional visual and categorization processing and extended (in the non-fluent group) to brainstem effector pathways. These findings open a window on the functional cerebral mechanisms underpinning complex socio-emotional phenotypes of frontotemporal dementia, with implications for novel physiological biomarker development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Charles R Marshall
- Preventive Neurology Unit, Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK.,Dementia Research Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Institute of Neurology, London, UK.,Sobell Department of Motor Neuroscience and Movement Disorders, UCL Institute of Neurology, London, UK
| | - Christopher J D Hardy
- Dementia Research Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Institute of Neurology, London, UK
| | - Lucy L Russell
- Dementia Research Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Institute of Neurology, London, UK
| | - Rebecca L Bond
- Dementia Research Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Institute of Neurology, London, UK
| | - Harri Sivasathiaseelan
- Dementia Research Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Institute of Neurology, London, UK
| | - Caroline Greaves
- Dementia Research Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Institute of Neurology, London, UK
| | - Katrina M Moore
- Dementia Research Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Institute of Neurology, London, UK
| | - Jennifer L Agustus
- Dementia Research Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Institute of Neurology, London, UK
| | - Janneke E P van Leeuwen
- Dementia Research Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Institute of Neurology, London, UK
| | - Stephen J Wastling
- Department of Neuroradiology, National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, London, UK
| | - Jonathan D Rohrer
- Dementia Research Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Institute of Neurology, London, UK
| | - James M Kilner
- Sobell Department of Motor Neuroscience and Movement Disorders, UCL Institute of Neurology, London, UK
| | - Jason D Warren
- Dementia Research Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Institute of Neurology, London, UK
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18
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Smit I, Szabo D, Kubinyi E. Age-related positivity effect on behavioural responses of dogs to human vocalisations. Sci Rep 2019; 9:20201. [PMID: 31882873 PMCID: PMC6934484 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-56636-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/07/2019] [Accepted: 11/25/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Age-related changes in the brain can alter how emotions are processed. In humans, valence specific changes in attention and memory were reported with increasing age, i.e. older people are less attentive toward and experience fewer negative emotions, while processing of positive emotions remains intact. Little is yet known about this "positivity effect" in non-human animals. We tested young (n = 21, 1-5 years) and old (n = 19, >10 years) family dogs with positive (laugh), negative (cry), and neutral (hiccup, cough) human vocalisations and investigated age-related differences in their behavioural reactions. Only dogs with intact hearing were analysed and the selected sound samples were balanced regarding mean and fundamental frequencies between valence categories. Compared to young dogs, old individuals reacted slower only to the negative sounds and there was no significant difference in the duration of the reactions between groups. The selective response of the aged dogs to the sound stimuli suggests that the results cannot be explained by general cognitive and/or perceptual decline. and supports the presence of an age-related positivity effect in dogs, too. Similarities in emotional processing between humans and dogs may imply analogous changes in subcortical emotional processing in the canine brain during ageing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Iris Smit
- Department of Ethology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, 1117, Hungary.
- HAS University of Applied Sciences, 's-Hertogenbosch, 5223DE, The Netherlands.
| | - Dora Szabo
- Department of Ethology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, 1117, Hungary
| | - Enikő Kubinyi
- Department of Ethology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, 1117, Hungary
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19
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Van den Stock J, De Winter FL, Stam D, Van de Vliet L, Huang YA, Dries E, Van Assche L, Emsell L, Bouckaert F, Vandenbulcke M. Reduced tendency to attribute mental states to abstract shapes in behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia links with cerebellar structural integrity. NEUROIMAGE-CLINICAL 2019; 22:101770. [PMID: 30884367 PMCID: PMC6424142 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2019.101770] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2018] [Revised: 01/28/2019] [Accepted: 03/10/2019] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Theory of mind (ToM) refers to the ability to attribute mental states to others. Behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by profound deficits in social cognition, including ToM. We investigate whether bvFTD affects intention attribution tendency while viewing abstract animations and whether this might represent a primary deficit. A sample of 15 bvFTD patients and 19 matched controls were assessed on cognition and performed an implicit ToM task. They were instructed to describe what they observed in movement patterns displayed by geometrical shapes (triangles). These movement patterns either represented animacy, goal-directed actions or manipulation of mental state (ToM). The responses were scored for both accuracy and intentionality attribution. Using Voxel-Based Morphometry, we investigated the structural neuroanatomy associated with intention attribution tendency. The behavioral results revealed deficits in the bvFTD group on intentionality attribution that were specific for the ToM condition after controlling for global cognitive functioning (MMSE-score), visual attention (TMT B-score), fluid intelligence (RCPMT-score) and confrontation naming (BNT-score). In the bvFTD sample, the intention attribution tendency on the ToM-condition was associated with grey matter volume of a cluster in the cerebellum, spanning the right Crus I, Crus II, VIIIb, IX, left VIIb, IX and vermal IX and X. The results reveal a specific, primary, implicit domain-general ToM deficit in bvFTD that cannot be explained by cognitive dysfunction. Furthermore, the findings point to a contribution of the cerebellum in the social-cognitive phenotype of bvFTD. We show a reduction in intention attribution tendency to abstract shapes in bvFTD. Cognitive or subordinate processes did not explain the reduction. The reduction was associated with structural integrity of a cerebellar cluster.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jan Van den Stock
- Laboratory for Translational Neuropsychiatry, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven, Belgium; Geriatric Psychiatry, University Psychiatric Center KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; Brain and Emotion Laboratory, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
| | - François-Laurent De Winter
- Laboratory for Translational Neuropsychiatry, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven, Belgium; Geriatric Psychiatry, University Psychiatric Center KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Daphne Stam
- Laboratory for Translational Neuropsychiatry, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven, Belgium
| | - Laura Van de Vliet
- Laboratory for Translational Neuropsychiatry, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven, Belgium
| | - Yun-An Huang
- Laboratory for Translational Neuropsychiatry, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven, Belgium
| | - Eva Dries
- Department of Neurology, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Lies Van Assche
- Laboratory for Translational Neuropsychiatry, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven, Belgium; Geriatric Psychiatry, University Psychiatric Center KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Louise Emsell
- Laboratory for Translational Neuropsychiatry, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven, Belgium; Geriatric Psychiatry, University Psychiatric Center KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; Translational MRI, Department of Imaging and Pathology, KU Leuven, Belgium
| | - Filip Bouckaert
- Laboratory for Translational Neuropsychiatry, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven, Belgium; Geriatric Psychiatry, University Psychiatric Center KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Mathieu Vandenbulcke
- Laboratory for Translational Neuropsychiatry, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven, Belgium; Geriatric Psychiatry, University Psychiatric Center KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
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20
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Amygdala subnuclei are differentially affected in the different genetic and pathological forms of frontotemporal dementia. ALZHEIMER'S & DEMENTIA: DIAGNOSIS, ASSESSMENT & DISEASE MONITORING 2019; 11:136-141. [PMID: 30788410 PMCID: PMC6369146 DOI: 10.1016/j.dadm.2018.12.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Introduction Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is a heterogeneous neurodegenerative disorder with multiple genetic and pathological causes. It is characterized by both cortical and subcortical atrophies, with previous studies showing early involvement of the amygdala. However, no prior study has specifically investigated the atrophy of different subnuclei of the amygdala. Methods Using an automated segmentation tool for T1-weighted volumetric magnetic resonance imaging, we investigated amygdalar subnuclei (AS) involvement in a cohort of 132 patients with genetic or pathologically confirmed FTD (age: mean = 61 years (standard deviation = 8); disease duration: 5 (3) years) compared with 107 age-matched controls. Results AS were affected in all genetic and pathological forms of FTD. MAPT mutations/FTDP-17, Pick's disease, and transactive response DNA binding protein 43 kDa type C were the forms with the smallest amygdala (35%–50% smaller than controls in the most affected hemisphere, P < .0005). In most FTD groups, medial subnuclei (particularly the superficial, accessory basal and basal/paralaminar subnuclei) tended to be affected more than the lateral subnuclei, except for the progressive supranuclear palsy group, in which the corticoamygdaloid transition area was the least-affected area. Discussion Differential involvement of the AS was seen in the different genetic and pathological forms of FTD. In general, the most affected subnuclei were the superficial, accessory basal and basal/paralaminar subnuclei, which form part of a network of regions that control reward and emotion regulation, functions known to be particularly affected in FTD. Amygdalar subnuclei are affected in all genetic and pathological forms of frontotemporal dementia. Amygdalar subnuclei are differently involved among genetic and pathological forms. MAPT/FTDP-17, Pick's disease, and TDP-43 type C showed the smallest amygdala. The medial subnuclei tended to be affected more than the lateral subnuclei.
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21
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Kurth F, Cherbuin N, Luders E. Age but no sex effects on subareas of the amygdala. Hum Brain Mapp 2018; 40:1697-1704. [PMID: 30549129 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.24481] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2018] [Revised: 10/23/2018] [Accepted: 11/07/2018] [Indexed: 01/05/2023] Open
Abstract
The amygdala, an anatomical composite of several nuclei that have been grouped anatomically and functionally into three major subareas, has been reported to decrease in size with increasing age and to differ in size between male and female brains. However, findings are rather inconsistent across existing studies, possibly reflecting differences in the cohorts examined or the approaches chosen to define and measure the dimensions of the amygdala. Here, we investigated possible effects of age and sex on the amygdala as well as age-by-sex interactions in 100 healthy subjects (50 men/50 women) aged 18-69 years. For this purpose, we enhanced conventional imaging-based information with microscopically defined cytoarchitectonic probabilities to discriminate between different subareas. We observed significant negative correlations between age and all subareas of the amygdala indicating decreases over time, but with subarea-specific trajectories. In addition, we detected a significant quadratic association with age for the left superficial subarea suggesting an accelerating volume loss over time. Such regional information may serve as a frame of reference in future studies, not only for normative samples but also potentially for clinical populations known to present with an atypical atrophy of the amygdala. There were no sex differences and no interactions between sex and age, suggesting that the size of the amygdala is similar in male and female brains (at least when properly accounting for total intracranial volume) and that its age-related decline follows a similar trajectory in both sexes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Florian Kurth
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Nicolas Cherbuin
- Centre for Research on Ageing Health and Wellbeing, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
| | - Eileen Luders
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.,Centre for Research on Ageing Health and Wellbeing, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.,Laboratory of Neuro Imaging, School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California
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Richoz AR, Lao J, Pascalis O, Caldara R. Tracking the recognition of static and dynamic facial expressions of emotion across the life span. J Vis 2018; 18:5. [PMID: 30208425 DOI: 10.1167/18.9.5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
The effective transmission and decoding of dynamic facial expressions of emotion is omnipresent and critical for adapted social interactions in everyday life. Thus, common intuition would suggest an advantage for dynamic facial expression recognition (FER) over the static snapshots routinely used in most experiments. However, although many studies reported an advantage in the recognition of dynamic over static expressions in clinical populations, results obtained from healthy participants are contrasted. To clarify this issue, we conducted a large cross-sectional study to investigate FER across the life span in order to determine if age is a critical factor to account for such discrepancies. More than 400 observers (age range 5-96) performed recognition tasks of the six basic expressions in static, dynamic, and shuffled (temporally randomized frames) conditions, normalized for the amount of energy sampled over time. We applied a Bayesian hierarchical step-linear model to capture the nonlinear relationship between age and FER for the different viewing conditions. Although replicating the typical accuracy profiles of FER, we determined the age at which peak efficiency was reached for each expression and found greater accuracy for most dynamic expressions across the life span. This advantage in the elderly population was driven by a significant decrease in performance for static images, which was twice as large as for the young adults. Our data posit the use of dynamic stimuli as being critical in the assessment of FER in the elderly population, inviting caution when drawing conclusions from the sole use of static face images to this aim.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anne-Raphaëlle Richoz
- Eye and Brain Mapping Laboratory (iBMLab), Department of Psychology, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland.,LPNC, University of Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France
| | - Junpeng Lao
- Eye and Brain Mapping Laboratory (iBMLab), Department of Psychology, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland
| | | | - Roberto Caldara
- Eye and Brain Mapping Laboratory (iBMLab), Department of Psychology, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland
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23
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Anterior Temporal Lobectomy Impairs Neural Classification of Body Emotions in Right Superior Temporal Sulcus and Reduces Emotional Enhancement in Distributed Brain Areas without Affecting Behavioral Classification. J Neurosci 2018; 38:9263-9274. [PMID: 30228228 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0634-18.2018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2018] [Revised: 08/30/2018] [Accepted: 09/04/2018] [Indexed: 01/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Humans with amygdalar lesions show proportional reductions of the emotional response to facial expressions in the fusiform face area as well as deficits in emotion recognition from facial expressions. While processing of bodily expressions shares many similarities with facial expressions, there is no substantial evidence that lesions of the amygdala result in similar behavioral and neural sequelae. We combined behavioral assessment with functional neuroimaging in a group of male and female humans with unilateral anterior temporal lobe (ATL) resections, including the amygdala (right: n = 10; left: n = 10) and 12 matched controls. The objective was to assess whether the amygdala is crucial for the recognition of body expressions and for modulatory effects on distant areas during perception of body expressions. The behavioral results revealed normal performance in both patient groups on emotion categorization of body expressions. The neuroimaging results showed that ATL patients displayed no enhanced activations in right fusiform body area and left extrastriate body area and that left ATL patients additionally displayed no enhanced activations in right posterior superior temporal sulcus and right extrastriate body area, respectively. Multivoxel pattern analysis revealed altered categorization capacity between emotional and neutral stimuli in right posterior superior temporal sulcus in right ATL patients. In addition, we also found emotional enhancement in frontal, parietal, occipital, and cingulate regions in controls. Together, our data show that the amygdala and ATLs are not necessary for recognition of dynamic body expressions, but suggest that amygdala lesions affect body emotion processing in distant brain areas.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT For humans, information from emotional expressions of others is crucial to support social interactions. The majority of emotion studies has focused on facial expressions; however, in daily life, we also use information from body postures and body movement. Visual processing of body expressions relies on a brain network, including body-specific visual areas and visuomotor areas. Even though the importance of the amygdala and its modulatory effects on distant brain regions have been documented, it remains unclear whether the amygdala plays a crucial role in emotional body processing. By combining behavioral and neuroimaging data in patients with amygdalar lesions, we provide further evidence for its modulatory effect on distant areas during the perception of body expressions.
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24
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Lopatina OL, Komleva YK, Gorina YV, Higashida H, Salmina AB. Neurobiological Aspects of Face Recognition: The Role of Oxytocin. Front Behav Neurosci 2018; 12:195. [PMID: 30210321 PMCID: PMC6121008 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2018.00195] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2018] [Accepted: 08/09/2018] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Face recognition is an important index in the formation of social cognition and neurodevelopment in humans. Changes in face perception and memory are connected with altered sociability, which is a symptom of numerous brain conditions including autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Various brain regions and neuropeptides are implicated in face processing. The neuropeptide oxytocin (OT) plays an important role in various social behaviors, including face and emotion recognition. Nasal OT administration is a promising new therapy that can address social cognition deficits in individuals with ASD. New instrumental neurotechnologies enable the assessment of brain region activation during specific social tasks and therapies, and can characterize the involvement of genes and peptides in impaired neurodevelopment. The present review sought to discuss some of the mechanisms of the face distinguishing process, the ability of OT to modulate social cognition, as well as new perspectives and technologies for research and rehabilitation of face recognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Olga L Lopatina
- Department of Biochemistry, Medical, Pharmaceutical, and Toxicological Chemistry, Krasnoyarsk State Medical University named after Prof. V.F. Voino-Yasenetsky, Krasnoyarsk, Russia.,Research Institute of Molecular Medicine and Pathobiochemistry, Krasnoyarsk State Medical University named after Prof. V.F. Voino-Yasenetsky, Krasnoyarsk, Russia.,Department of Basic Research on Social Recognition and Memory, Research Center for Child Mental Development, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Japan
| | - Yulia K Komleva
- Department of Biochemistry, Medical, Pharmaceutical, and Toxicological Chemistry, Krasnoyarsk State Medical University named after Prof. V.F. Voino-Yasenetsky, Krasnoyarsk, Russia.,Research Institute of Molecular Medicine and Pathobiochemistry, Krasnoyarsk State Medical University named after Prof. V.F. Voino-Yasenetsky, Krasnoyarsk, Russia
| | - Yana V Gorina
- Department of Biochemistry, Medical, Pharmaceutical, and Toxicological Chemistry, Krasnoyarsk State Medical University named after Prof. V.F. Voino-Yasenetsky, Krasnoyarsk, Russia.,Research Institute of Molecular Medicine and Pathobiochemistry, Krasnoyarsk State Medical University named after Prof. V.F. Voino-Yasenetsky, Krasnoyarsk, Russia
| | - Haruhiro Higashida
- Research Institute of Molecular Medicine and Pathobiochemistry, Krasnoyarsk State Medical University named after Prof. V.F. Voino-Yasenetsky, Krasnoyarsk, Russia.,Department of Basic Research on Social Recognition and Memory, Research Center for Child Mental Development, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Japan
| | - Alla B Salmina
- Department of Biochemistry, Medical, Pharmaceutical, and Toxicological Chemistry, Krasnoyarsk State Medical University named after Prof. V.F. Voino-Yasenetsky, Krasnoyarsk, Russia.,Research Institute of Molecular Medicine and Pathobiochemistry, Krasnoyarsk State Medical University named after Prof. V.F. Voino-Yasenetsky, Krasnoyarsk, Russia.,Department of Basic Research on Social Recognition and Memory, Research Center for Child Mental Development, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Japan
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25
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Looking but not seeing: Increased eye fixations in behavioural-variant frontotemporal dementia. Cortex 2018; 103:71-81. [PMID: 29573594 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2018.02.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2017] [Revised: 02/02/2018] [Accepted: 02/19/2018] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Face processing plays a central role in human communication, with the eye region a particularly important cue for discriminating emotions. Indeed, reduced attention to the eyes has been argued to underlie social deficits in a number of clinical populations. Despite well-established impairments in facial affect recognition in behavioural-variant frontotemporal dementia, whether these patients also have perturbed facial scanning is yet to be investigated. The current study employed eye tracking to record visual scanning of faces in 20 behavioural-variant frontotemporal dementia patients and 21 controls. Remarkably, behavioural-variant frontotemporal dementia patients displayed more fixations to the eyes of emotional faces, compared to controls. Neural regions associated with fixations to the eyes included the left inferior frontal gyrus, right cerebellum and middle temporal gyrus. Our study is the first to show such compensatory functions in behavioural-variant frontotemporal dementia and suggest a feedback-style network, including anterior and posterior brain regions, is involved in early face processing.
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26
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Kumfor F, Ibañez A, Hutchings R, Hazelton JL, Hodges JR, Piguet O. Beyond the face: how context modulates emotion processing in frontotemporal dementia subtypes. Brain 2018; 141:1172-1185. [DOI: 10.1093/brain/awy002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 53] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/09/2017] [Accepted: 11/15/2017] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Fiona Kumfor
- The University of Sydney, School of Psychology, Sydney, Australia
- The University of Sydney, Brain and Mind Centre, Sydney, Australia
- ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Sydney, Australia
| | - Agustin Ibañez
- ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Sydney, Australia
- National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Universidad Autonoma del Caribe, Barranquilla, Colombia
- Institute of Cognitive and Translational Neuroscience (INCyT), INECO Foundation, Favaloro University, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Center for Social and Cognitive Neuroscience (CSCN), School of Psychology, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Santiago de Chile, Chile
| | - Rosalind Hutchings
- The University of Sydney, School of Psychology, Sydney, Australia
- The University of Sydney, Brain and Mind Centre, Sydney, Australia
- ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Sydney, Australia
| | - Jessica L Hazelton
- The University of Sydney, School of Psychology, Sydney, Australia
- The University of Sydney, Brain and Mind Centre, Sydney, Australia
| | - John R Hodges
- The University of Sydney, School of Psychology, Sydney, Australia
- The University of Sydney, Brain and Mind Centre, Sydney, Australia
- The University of Sydney, Clinical Medical School, Sydney, Australia
| | - Olivier Piguet
- The University of Sydney, School of Psychology, Sydney, Australia
- The University of Sydney, Brain and Mind Centre, Sydney, Australia
- ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Sydney, Australia
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27
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Marshall CR, Hardy CJD, Russell LL, Clark CN, Bond RL, Dick KM, Brotherhood EV, Mummery CJ, Schott JM, Rohrer JD, Kilner JM, Warren JD. Motor signatures of emotional reactivity in frontotemporal dementia. Sci Rep 2018; 8:1030. [PMID: 29348485 PMCID: PMC5773553 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-19528-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2017] [Accepted: 01/04/2018] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Automatic motor mimicry is essential to the normal processing of perceived emotion, and disrupted automatic imitation might underpin socio-emotional deficits in neurodegenerative diseases, particularly the frontotemporal dementias. However, the pathophysiology of emotional reactivity in these diseases has not been elucidated. We studied facial electromyographic responses during emotion identification on viewing videos of dynamic facial expressions in 37 patients representing canonical frontotemporal dementia syndromes versus 21 healthy older individuals. Neuroanatomical associations of emotional expression identification accuracy and facial muscle reactivity were assessed using voxel-based morphometry. Controls showed characteristic profiles of automatic imitation, and this response predicted correct emotion identification. Automatic imitation was reduced in the behavioural and right temporal variant groups, while the normal coupling between imitation and correct identification was lost in the right temporal and semantic variant groups. Grey matter correlates of emotion identification and imitation were delineated within a distributed network including primary visual and motor, prefrontal, insular, anterior temporal and temporo-occipital junctional areas, with common involvement of supplementary motor cortex across syndromes. Impaired emotional mimesis may be a core mechanism of disordered emotional signal understanding and reactivity in frontotemporal dementia, with implications for the development of novel physiological biomarkers of socio-emotional dysfunction in these diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Charles R Marshall
- Dementia Research Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, Institute of Neurology, University College London, Queen Square, London, WC1N 3BG, UK.
- Sobell Department of Motor Neuroscience and Movement Disorders, Institute of Neurology, University College London, Queen Square, London, WC1N 3BG, UK.
| | - Chris J D Hardy
- Dementia Research Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, Institute of Neurology, University College London, Queen Square, London, WC1N 3BG, UK
| | - Lucy L Russell
- Dementia Research Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, Institute of Neurology, University College London, Queen Square, London, WC1N 3BG, UK
| | - Camilla N Clark
- Dementia Research Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, Institute of Neurology, University College London, Queen Square, London, WC1N 3BG, UK
| | - Rebecca L Bond
- Dementia Research Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, Institute of Neurology, University College London, Queen Square, London, WC1N 3BG, UK
| | - Katrina M Dick
- Dementia Research Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, Institute of Neurology, University College London, Queen Square, London, WC1N 3BG, UK
| | - Emilie V Brotherhood
- Dementia Research Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, Institute of Neurology, University College London, Queen Square, London, WC1N 3BG, UK
| | - Cath J Mummery
- Dementia Research Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, Institute of Neurology, University College London, Queen Square, London, WC1N 3BG, UK
| | - Jonathan M Schott
- Dementia Research Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, Institute of Neurology, University College London, Queen Square, London, WC1N 3BG, UK
| | - Jonathan D Rohrer
- Dementia Research Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, Institute of Neurology, University College London, Queen Square, London, WC1N 3BG, UK
| | - James M Kilner
- Sobell Department of Motor Neuroscience and Movement Disorders, Institute of Neurology, University College London, Queen Square, London, WC1N 3BG, UK
| | - Jason D Warren
- Dementia Research Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, Institute of Neurology, University College London, Queen Square, London, WC1N 3BG, UK
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28
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Van den Stock J, Stam D, De Winter F, Mantini D, Szmrecsanyi B, Van Laere K, Vandenberghe R, Vandenbulcke M. Moral processing deficit in behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia is associated with facial emotion recognition and brain changes in default mode and salience network areas. Brain Behav 2017; 7:e00843. [PMID: 29299378 PMCID: PMC5745238 DOI: 10.1002/brb3.843] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/05/2017] [Accepted: 08/10/2017] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
Introduction Behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) is associated with abnormal emotion recognition and moral processing. Methods We assessed emotion detection, discrimination, matching, selection, and categorization as well as judgments of nonmoral, moral impersonal, moral personal low- and high-conflict scenarios. Results bvFTD patients gave more utilitarian responses on low-conflict personal moral dilemmas. There was a significant correlation between a facial emotion processing measure derived through principal component analysis and utilitarian responses on low-conflict personal scenarios in the bvFTD group (controlling for MMSE-score and syntactic abilities). Voxel-based morphometric multiple regression analysis in the bvFTD group revealed a significant association between the proportion of utilitarian responses on personal low-conflict dilemmas and gray matter volume in ventromedial prefrontal areas (pheight < .0001). In addition, there was a correlation between utilitarian responses on low-conflict personal scenarios in the bvFTD group and resting-state fractional Amplitude of Low Frequency Fluctuations (fALFF) in the anterior insula (pheight < .005). Conclusions The results underscore the importance of emotions in moral cognition and suggest a common basis for deficits in both abilities, possibly related to reduced experience of emotional sensations. At the neural level abnormal moral cognition in bvFTD is related to structural integrity of the medial prefrontal cortex and functional characteristics of the anterior insula. The present findings provide a common basis for emotion recognition and moral reasoning and link them with areas in the default mode and salience network.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jan Van den Stock
- Laboratory for Translational NeuropsychiatryDepartment of NeurosciencesKU LeuvenLeuvenBelgium
- Department of Old Age PsychiatryUniversity Psychiatry CenterLeuvenBelgium
| | - Daphne Stam
- Laboratory for Translational NeuropsychiatryDepartment of NeurosciencesKU LeuvenLeuvenBelgium
| | - François‐Laurent De Winter
- Laboratory for Translational NeuropsychiatryDepartment of NeurosciencesKU LeuvenLeuvenBelgium
- Department of Old Age PsychiatryUniversity Psychiatry CenterLeuvenBelgium
| | - Dante Mantini
- Research Center for Movement Control and NeuroplasticityKU LeuvenLeuvenBelgium
- Department of Health Sciences and TechnologyETH ZurichZurichSwitzerland
- Department of Experimental PsychologyUniversity of OxfordOxfordUK
| | | | - Koen Van Laere
- Nuclear Medicine and Molecular ImagingDepartment of Imaging and PathologyKU LeuvenLeuvenBelgium
| | - Rik Vandenberghe
- Laboratory for Cognitive NeurologyDepartment of NeurosciencesKU LeuvenLeuvenBelgium
- Department of NeurologyUniversity Hospitals LeuvenLeuvenBelgium
| | - Mathieu Vandenbulcke
- Laboratory for Translational NeuropsychiatryDepartment of NeurosciencesKU LeuvenLeuvenBelgium
- Department of Old Age PsychiatryUniversity Psychiatry CenterLeuvenBelgium
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29
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Disrupted Face Processing in Frontotemporal Dementia: A Review of the Clinical and Neuroanatomical Evidence. Neuropsychol Rev 2017; 27:18-30. [DOI: 10.1007/s11065-016-9340-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2016] [Accepted: 12/21/2016] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
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