Theory of Mind and Decision-Making Deficits in Patients with Prefrontal Cortex Dysfunction

TERESA TORRALVA; JOHN HODGES; TRISTÁN BEKINSCHTEIN; LUKE CLARK; MARÍA ROCA; MARÍA DE LUJÁN CALCAGNO; RAMÓN LEIGUARDA; FACUNDO MANES

Miami

Encuentro; Sixteenth Annual Meeting of the American Neuropsychiatric Association; 2005

American Neuropsychiatric Association

Background: Theory of Mind (ToM) and decision making (DM) tasks appear to implicate the same prefrontal circuits. However, there is little evidence available regarding the degree of association between DM and ToM. Our objective was to compare performance in DM and ToM tasks in patients with prefrontal dysfunction. Methods: Twenty frontal variant of Frontotemporal Dementia (fvFTD) patients and ten normal controls underwent standard neurological, neuropsychiatric and neuropsychological examination. The IOWA Gambling task was used to evaluate DM, and the "Reading the Mind in the Eyes" and "Faux Pas" Tests were used to evaluate ToM. Results: Significant differences were found between FTD patients and the control group, both for ToM and DM tests. Considerable intercorrelation was found between the ToM tasks: Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test and Faux Pas Test (r = .57, P=0.001). However, no correlations were found between DM and ToM tasks (Eyes Test =.14, Faux Pas Test = .02). Conclusion: This study shows two important findings: a) significant deficits in fvFTD patients on ToM and DM tasks compared to controls, and b) no correlation between ToM and DM tasks. Although some authors believe ToM and DM deficits recruit identical prefrontal areas, the lack of correlation between tasks as demonstrated here, strongly suggests that dissimilar frontal circuits may be involved.