title: The neural correlates of road sign knowledge and route learning in semantic dementia and Alzheimer's disease.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Although there is a growing body of research on driving and Alzheimer's disease (AD), focal dementias have been understudied. Moreover, driving has never been explored in semantic dementia (SD).
  
  
  METHODS
  An experimental battery exploring road sign knowledge and route learning was applied to patients with SD and AD selected in the early-moderate stage of disease and to a group of healthy participants. Neuropsychological data were correlated to cerebral hypometabolism distribution, investigated by means of positron emission tomography.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The two dementias showed opposite profiles. Patients with SD showed poor road sign knowledge and normal performance in route learning. By contrast, patients with AD showed low performance in route learning test with preservation of semantic knowledge of road signs. In SD, there was a correlation of semantic knowledge impairment with hypometabolism in the left temporolateral cortex. No correlation between the AD region of interests (ROIs) and the relevant behavioural indices was found, while in the whole-brain analysis there was a significant correlation between route learning and the superior frontal gyrus.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  For the first time, driving skills were explored in SD, and it is showed a differential profile from the one detected in AD. We demonstrate that the left anterior temporal cortex is implicated in road sign knowledge, while a distributed cortical network, including the frontal cortex, is likely to process route learning.
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, Marche Polytechnic University, Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Luzzi
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, Marche Polytechnic University, Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Cafazzo
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, Marche Polytechnic University, Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Damora
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, Marche Polytechnic University, Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fabi
authors.affiliation: Nuclear Medicine Department, Ospedali Riuniti di Ancona, Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: F M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Fringuelli
authors.affiliation: Nuclear Medicine Department, Ospedali Riuniti di Ancona, Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ascoli
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, Marche Polytechnic University, Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Silvestrini
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, Marche Polytechnic University, Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Provinciali
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Università Milano, Bicocca, Milano, Italy NeuroMi, Milan Center for Neuroscience, Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Reverberi
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000523:psychology*; D001334:Automobile Driving / Q000523:psychology; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D003657:Decision Making; D003704:Dementia / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000523:psychology*; D056344:Executive Function; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D019359:Knowledge; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D057567:Memory, Long-Term; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D009949:Orientation; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D011597:Psychomotor Performance
keywords: COGNITIVE NEUROPSYCHOLOGY; DEMENTIA; PET, FUNCTIONAL IMAGING