title: Affective communication deficits associated with cerebellar degeneration.
abstract: The cerebellum has extensive connections with the frontal lobes. Cerebellar injury has been reported to induce frontal-executive cognitive dysfunction and blunting of affect. We examined a patient with idiopathic cerebellar degeneration with impaired family relationships attributed to an "emotional disconnection." Examination revealed ataxia, dysmetria, and adiadochokinesia more severe on the left and frontal-executive dysfunction; memory and cognitive functions were otherwise normal. Testing of emotional communication included assessments of emotional semantic knowledge, emotional prosody, and emotional facial expressions. Comprehension was normal but expression was severely impaired. Cerebellar dysfunction can cause a defect in facial and prosodic emotional communication.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Neurology , University of Florida College of Medicine , Gainesville , FL , USA.
authors.forename: K M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Heilman
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Leon
authors.forename: D B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Burtis
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ashizawa
authors.forename: S H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Subramony
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect / Q000502:physiology*; D002526:Cerebellar Diseases / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D003147:Communication Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D005149:Facial Expression; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male