title: So Close Yet So Far: Executive Contribution to Memory Processing in Behavioral Variant Frontotemporal Dementia.
abstract: Memory impairment in behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) is traditionally considered to be mild and attributed to prefrontal cortex dysfunction. Recent studies, however, indicated that some patients can present with a memory impairment of the hippocampal type, showing storage and consolidation deficits in addition to the more executive/prefrontal related encoding and strategic difficulties.
  
  
  
  This study aimed to study the relationship between executive functions (EF) and memory processes in bvFTD via a data-driven approach.
  
  
  
  Participants consisted of 71 bvFTD (among which 60.6% had a lumbar puncture showing non-Alzheimer biomarker profile) and 60 controls (among which 45% had amyloid imaging showing a normal profile). EF were assessed by the Frontal Assessment Battery, semantic/lexical verbal fluency tests, and forward/backward digit spans. Patients were split into amnestic (n = 33) and non-amnestic (n = 38) subgroups based on normative data (total recall score) from the Free and Cued Selective Reminding Test (FCSRT). Relationships between FCSRT subscores and EF measures were explored through hierarchical clustering analysis, partial correlation analysis with an EF component, and automated linear modeling.
  
  
  
  Convergent findings across the statistical approaches show that, overall, memory performance was independent from EF in bvFTD whereas the relationship was stronger in controls. Indeed, in bvFTD, memory performance did not cluster with EF, was not correlated with the EF component, and was only partially (4% - 12.7%) predicted by EF.
  
  
  
  These findings show that executive dysfunctions cannot solely explain the memory deficits occurring in bvFTD. Indeed, some patients present with a genuine amnesia affecting storage and consolidation abilities, which are independent from executive dysfunctions. On the clinical level, this study highlights the importance of revising the neuropsychological diagnosis criteria for bvFTD.
authors: Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia, UK.|Centre de Référence Démence Rares, Pitié-Salpêtrière, Paris, France.|Sorbonne Universités, Paris VI, France.
authors: Maxime
authors: M
authors: Bertoux
authors: Department of Neurology, Manipal Hospital, Bangalore, India.
authors: Siddharth
authors: S
authors: Ramanan
authors: Department of Physiopathology and Neuroscience, Faculty of Medicine, University of Chile, Santiago, Chile.|Gerosciences Center for Brain Health and Metabolism, Santiago, Chile.
authors: Andrea
authors: A
authors: Slachevsky
authors: Neurosciences Research Australia, Randwick, Australia.
authors: Stephanie
authors: S
authors: Wong
authors: Cognitive Neurology and Dementia, Neurology Department, Hospital del Salvador, Santiago, Chile.
authors: Fernando
authors: F
authors: Henriquez
authors: Cognitive Neurology and Dementia, Neurology Department, Hospital del Salvador, Santiago, Chile.
authors: Gada
authors: G
authors: Musa
authors: Cognitive Neurology and Dementia, Neurology Department, Hospital del Salvador, Santiago, Chile.
authors: Carolina
authors: C
authors: Delgado
authors: Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia, UK.
authors: Emma
authors: E
authors: Flanagan
authors: NeuroSpin, Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique, Saclay, France.
authors: Michel
authors: M
authors: Bottlaender
authors: Centre Psychiatrie & Neurosciences, Sainte-Anne, Paris, France.
authors: Marie
authors: M
authors: Sarazin
authors: Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia, UK.
authors: Michael
authors: M
authors: Hornberger
authors: Centre de Référence Démence Rares, Pitié-Salpêtrière, Paris, France.|Sorbonne Universités, Paris VI, France.
authors: Bruno
authors: B
authors: Dubois
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D057180:Frontotemporal Dementia / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon / Q000379:methods
keywords: Consolidation; Free and Cued Selective Reminding Test; encoding; episodic amnesia; executive functions; frontotemporal dementia; memory; retrieval; storage