title: Differential Impairment of Cognitive and Affective Mentalizing Abilities in Neurodegenerative Dementias: Evidence from Behavioral Variant of Frontotemporal Dementia, Alzheimer's Disease, and Mild Cognitive Impairment.
abstract: Cognitive and affective theory of mind (ToM) can be impaired in the course of neurodegenerative dementias. Experimental tests based on different task conditions and/or complexity may fail to capture disease-specific patterns of impairments. In this study, we assessed with a single task both the affective and the cognitive facets of ToM ability in a sample of 47 patients (i.e., 12 AD, 20 bvFTD, and 15 aMCI fulfilling IWG criteria for AD in predementia phase) and 65 healthy controls. Subjects were administered the Story-based Empathy task (SET), a non-verbal task measuring the ability to infer others' intentions (IA) and emotions (EA) compared to a control condition (causal inferences, CI). Global and single sub-condition scores were evaluated with a vectorial method, analyzing the relationship between social abilities and basic cognitive functioning by means of two indices representing the basic ability to perform the task and the balance between basic functions and ToM skills.Dementia (AD and bvFTD) patients showed impaired performances on all SET sub-conditions, whereas aMCI subjects' performance was not different from healthy controls. Vectorial analysis revealed a specific change in the balance between EA and CI conditions only in the bvFTD group, supporting a disproportionate deficit in mental states attribution based on affective cues. The overall deficit in the task in AD appears to be more general and related to the severity of dementia. This latter finding is further supported by the normal performance of the prodromal AD group.
authors.affiliation: Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milan, Italy.|Division of Neuroscience, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dodich
authors.affiliation: Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milan, Italy.|Division of Neuroscience, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy.|Department of Clinical Neurosciences, San Raffaele Hospital, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cerami
authors.affiliation: Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milan, Italy.|Division of Neuroscience, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Crespi
authors.affiliation: Division of Neuroscience, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy.|NeTS Center - Istituto Universitario di Studi Superiori (IUSS), Pavia, Italy.
authors.forename: Nicola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Canessa
authors.affiliation: Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Giada
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lettieri
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Neurosciences, San Raffaele Hospital, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Sandro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Iannaccone
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Neurosciences, San Raffaele Hospital, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Marcone
authors.affiliation: Division of Neuroscience, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy.|NeTS Center - Istituto Universitario di Studi Superiori (IUSS), Pavia, Italy.
authors.forename: Stefano F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Cappa
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Center for Cognitive and Social Neuroscience, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: John T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Cacioppo
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000523:psychology*; D003071:Cognition; D060825:Cognitive Dysfunction / Q000523:psychology*; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D057180:Frontotemporal Dementia / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D056345:Theory of Mind
keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; frontotemporal dementia; mild cognitive impairment; neurodegenerative diseases; theory of mind