title: Emotional reactivity and emotion recognition in frontotemporal lobar degeneration.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) is associated with a profound decline in social and emotional behavior; however, current understanding regarding the specific aspects of emotional functioning that are preserved and disrupted is limited.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To assess preservation of function and deficits in two aspects of emotional processing (emotional reactivity and emotion recognition) in FTLD.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-eight FTLD patients were compared with 16 controls in emotional reactivity (self-reported emotional experience, emotional facial behavior, and autonomic nervous system response to film stimuli) and emotion recognition (ability to identify a target emotion of fear, happy, or sad experienced by film characters). Additionally, the neural correlates of emotional reactivity and emotion recognition were investigated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  FTLD patients were comparable to controls in 1) emotional reactivity to the fear, happy, and sad film clips and 2) emotion recognition for the happy film clip. However, FTLD patients were significantly impaired compared with controls in emotion recognition for the fear and sad film clips. Volumetric analyses revealed that deficits in emotion recognition were associated with decreased lobar volumes in the frontal and temporal lobes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The socioemotional decline typically seen in frontotemporal lobar degeneration patients may result more from an inability to process certain emotions in other people than from deficits in emotional reactivity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-1650, USA.
authors.forename: K H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Werner
authors.forename: N A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Roberts
authors.forename: H J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Rosen
authors.forename: D L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Dean
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Kramer
authors.forename: M W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Weiner
authors.forename: B L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: R W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Levenson
mesh_terms: D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D000368:Aged; D001284:Atrophy / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology; D003704:Dementia / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology