CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

OBJECTIVE: The objective of the present study was to compare the performance in cognitive and affective TOM among patients with temporal and frontal variant FTD, and the contribution of specific executive abilities to ToM. BACKGROUND: A number of studies have recently shown deficits in the ability to attribute mental states to oneself and to others (Theory of Mind, ToM) in patients affected by the behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia (bv-FTD). Little work has been conducted regarding this ability in the temporal variant FTD (tv-FTD). DESIGN/METHODS: The cognitive and affective ToM responses (Faux Pas Test) of patients with bvFTD (n=34) were compared to responses of patients with tvFTD (n=19) and healthy control subjects (n=24). Correlations with executive functions were analyzed. RESULTS: Results indicate that both patients with bvFTD and tvFTD were significantly impaired in the total score of the Faux Pas test compared to healthy controls (p= 0.01). Both groups of patients failed significantly in detecting a Faux Pas (corrected hits) (p= 0.01) but only the fvFTD patients failed in detecting when there was not a Faux Pas (rejected hits) (p= 0.23). Both groups were significantly impaired in cognitive TOM (p= 0.02) while neither of them differed to the control group in affective TOM (p=NS). Significant correlations were found between TOM and a cognitive screening test (ACE) in both patients groups (p= 0.09) while executive functioning correlated significantly to ToM only in the bvFTD group (p= 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest a specific deficit in cognitive ToM in both behavioral and temporal variant FTD populations. That is, bv- and tv-FTD patients fail to infer the thoughts and intentions of others, rather than the feelings of others. This appears to be related to executive impairment specifically for bvFTD patients. More studies should be conducted in order to further understand these findings.

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