title: Pareidolias in REM Sleep Behavior Disorder: A Possible Predictive Marker of Lewy Body Diseases?
abstract: To investigate conditions and clinical significance of pareidolias in patients with idiopathic rapid eyemovent (REM) sleep behavior disorder (iRBD).
  
  
  
  This cross-sectional study examined 202 patients with iRBD (66.8 ± 8.0 yr, 58 female) and 46 healthy control subjects (64.7 ± 5.8 years, 14 females). They underwent the Pareidolia test, a newly developed instrument for evoking pareidolias, video polysomnography, olfactory tests, and Addenbrooke's cognitive examination-revised.
  
  
  
  Results show that 53.5% of iRBD patients exhibited one or more pareidolic responses: The rate was higher than control subjects showed (21.7%). The pictures evoking pareidolic responses were more numerous for iRBD patients than for control subjects (1.2 ± 1.8 vs. 0.4 ± 0.8, p < .001). Subgroup analyses revealed that iRBD patients with pareidolic responses had higher amounts of REM sleep without atonia (RWA), with lower sleep efficiency, lower cognitive function, and older age than subjects without pareidolic responses. Results of multivariate analyses show the number of pareidolic responses as a factor associated with decreased cognitive function in iRBD patients with better predictive accuracy. Morbidity length and severity of iRBD, olfactory function, and the amount of RWA were not factors associated with better predictive accuracy.
  
  
  
  Half or more of the iRBD patients showed pareidolic responses. The responses were proven to be associated more intimately with their cognitive decline than clinical or physiological variables related to RBD. Pareidolias in iRBD are useful as a predictive marker of future development of Lewy body diseases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Somnology, Tokyo Medical University, Tokyo, Japan.|Division of Biomedical Laboratory Sciences, Department of Life Sciences and Bio-informatics, Graduate School of Health Sciences, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Taeko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sasai-Sakuma
authors.affiliation: Department of Behavioral Neurology and Cognitive Neuroscience, Tohoku University School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshiyuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nishio
authors.affiliation: Department of Behavioral Neurology and Cognitive Neuroscience, Tohoku University School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan.|Department of Occupational Therapy, Yamagata Prefectural University of Health Sciences, Yamagata, Japan.
authors.forename: Kayoko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yokoi
authors.affiliation: Department of Behavioral Neurology and Cognitive Neuroscience, Tohoku University School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan.
authors.forename: Etsuro
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mori
authors.affiliation: Department of Somnology, Tokyo Medical University, Tokyo, Japan.|Japan Somnology Center, Neuropsychiatric Research Institute, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuichi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Inoue
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D015415:Biomarkers; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D060825:Cognitive Dysfunction / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007088:Illusions / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology*; D020961:Lewy Body Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D017286:Polysomnography / Q000379:methods; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D020187:REM Sleep Behavior Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers
keywords: dementia with Lewy bodies; pareidolias; rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder; visual hallucination; visual illusion.