Ugly aesthetic perception associated with emotional changes in experience of art by behavioural variant of frontotemporal dementia patients.
The aesthetic experience through art is a window into the study of emotions. Patients with behavioural variant of frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) have early alteration of emotional processing. A new appreciation of art has been reported in some of these patients. We designed a computerized task using 32 abstract paintings that allowed us to investigate the integrity of patients' emotions when viewing the artwork. We evaluated both conscious and explicit appraisal of emotions [aesthetic judgment (beautiful/ugly), emotional relevance (affected or not by the painting), emotional valence (pleasant/unpleasant), emotional reaction (adjective choice) and arousal] and unconscious processing. Fifteen bvFTD patients and 15 healthy controls were included. BvFTD patients reported that they were "little touched" by the paintings. Aesthetic judgment was very different between the two groups: the paintings were considered ugly (negative aesthetic bias) and unpleasant (negative emotional bias) more often by the patients than by controls. Valence and aesthetic judgments correlated in both groups. In addition, there was a positive bias in the implicit task and for explicit emotional responses. Patients frequently chose the word "sad" and rarely expressed themselves with such adjectives as "happy". Our results suggest that bvFTD patients can give an aesthetic judgment, but present abstraction difficulties, as spectators, resulting from impairments in the cognitive processes involved. They also have difficulties in terms of emotional processes with the loss of the ability to feel the emotion per se (i.e., to feel an emotion faced with art) linked to behaviour assessment. This cognitive approach allows us to better understand which spectators are bvFTD patients and to show interactions between emotions and behavioural disorders.
CHU Nantes, Centre Mémoire Ressource et Recherche (CMRR), Département de Neurologie, France; Inserm CIC 04, Nantes, France; Laboratoire d'études des mécanismes cognitifs, EA 3082, Université Lyon 2, Bron F-69500, France. Electronic address: claire.boutoleaubretonniere@chu-nantes.fr.
Claire
C
Boutoleau-Bretonnière
EA 3826, Université de Nantes, France.
Cédric
C
Bretonnière
CHU Nantes, Centre Mémoire Ressource et Recherche (CMRR), Département de Neurologie, France; Inserm CIC 04, Nantes, France; Laboratoire de Psychologie des Pays de la Loire, UPRES EA 4638, France.
Christelle
C
Evrard
CHU Nantes, Centre Mémoire Ressource et Recherche (CMRR), Département de Neurologie, France; Inserm CIC 04, Nantes, France.
Laetitia
L
Rocher
Laboratoire d'études des mécanismes cognitifs, EA 3082, Université Lyon 2, Bron F-69500, France; Distance Learning University (Unidistance), Switzerland.
Audric
A
Mazzietti
Laboratoire d'études des mécanismes cognitifs, EA 3082, Université Lyon 2, Bron F-69500, France.
Olivier
O
Koenig
CHU Nantes, Centre Mémoire Ressource et Recherche (CMRR), Département de Neurologie, France; Inserm CIC 04, Nantes, France.
Martine
M
Vercelletto
CHU Nantes, Centre Mémoire Ressource et Recherche (CMRR), Département de Neurologie, France; Inserm CIC 04, Nantes, France; Inserm, UMR 913, Nantes, France.
Pascal
P
Derkinderen
Laboratoire d'études des mécanismes cognitifs, EA 3082, Université Lyon 2, Bron F-69500, France; Plein ciel, 75, Rue Bataille, 69008 Lyon, France.
Catherine
C
Thomas-Antérion
D000368:Aged; D001154:Art; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology; D003405:Creativity; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D004954:Esthetics / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D057180:Frontotemporal Dementia / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D008609:Mental Status Schedule; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology
Aesthetic perception; Behavioural variant of frontotemporal dementia; Emotion; Experience of art