title: Prolonged Visual Facial Grasp in Frontotemporal Dementia.
abstract: Gaze and eye contact is a critical aspect of social interaction. Patients with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) may exhibit abnormally prolonged stare toward human faces.
  
  
  
  To study characteristics of social gaze in patients with bvFTD compared to age and education matched-patients with early-onset Alzheimer's disease (eAD) and healthy controls (HC).
  
  
  
  Fifty picture stimuli were presented to each participant (bvFTD = 12, eAD = 18, HC = 13). Each stimuli contained two properties: face (facial versus non-facial) and valence (positive, negative, and neutral). The "facial" stimuli contained human faces. The participants Visual Fixation Time (VFT) was measured for each picture stimuli of interest (per facial expressions on the Facial Action Coding System). A linear mixed-effects regression model with participant-level of random effects was used to compare VFTs between groups.
  
  
  
  The patients with bvFTD showed significantly prolonged VFTs to faces than the patients with eAD and the HC, regardless of valence (all p < 0.01). There were no differences in VFTs for non-facial stimuli between patients with bvFTD and eAD. However, patients with bvFTD and eAD had significantly prolonged VFTs to negative non-facial stimuli than the HC (p = 0.006 and 0.019, respectively).
  
  
  
  Patients with bvFTD exhibited a prolonged stare toward human faces. This prolonged visual facial grasp may contribute to the disturbed social interactions of patients with bvFTD and can help distinguish them from those with Alzheimer's disease and other conditions. Additionally, both dementia groups tended to stare at negative stimuli whether faces or non-faces.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles, CA, USA.|Department of Psychiatry, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand.
authors.forename: Pongsatorn
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Paholpak
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li-Jung
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Drew R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Carr
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles, CA, USA.|Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles, CA, USA.|Department of Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Elvira
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Jimenez
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles, CA, USA.|Greater Los Angeles VA Healthcare System, West Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Robin J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Barrows
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Valeiry
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Sabodash
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles, CA, USA.|Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles, CA, USA.|Department of Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Mario F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Mendez
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D005133:Eye Movements / Q000502:physiology*; D005145:Face; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D057180:Frontotemporal Dementia / Q000150:complications*; D018737:Hand Strength / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D012044:Regression Analysis; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; eye movements; frontotemporal dementia; social behavior