Orbitofrontal and limbic signatures of empathic concern and intentional harm in the behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia

ANDREA SLACHEVSKY; FACUNDO MANES; SANDRA BÁEZ; TERESA TORRALVA; AGUSTÍN IBÁÑEZ; JUAN PABLO MORALES; CRISTIAN MATUS

CORTEX

ELSEVIER MASSON

Lugar: Paris; Año: 2016 vol. 75 p. 20 - 32

0010-9452

Perceiving and evaluating intentional harms in an interpersonal context engages bothcognitive and emotional domains. This process involves inference of intentions, moraljudgment, and, crucially, empathy towards others´ suffering. This latter skill is notablyimpaired in behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD). However, the relationshipbetween regional brain atrophy in bvFTD and deficits in the above-mentioned abilitiesis not well understood. The present study investigated how gray matter (GM) atrophy inbvFTD patients correlates with the perception and evaluation of harmful actions (attributionof intentionality, evaluation of harmful behavior, empathic concern, and moraljudgment). First, we compared the behavioral performance of 26 bvFTD patients and 23healthy controls on an experimental task (ET) indexing intentionality, empathy, and moralcognition during evaluation of harmful actions. Second, we compared GM volume in patientsand controls using voxel-based morphometry (VBM). Third, we examined brain regionswhere atrophy might be associated with specific impairments in the patient group