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Implicit sensitivity to disgust-inducing stimuli in self-neglect FTD patients
Nathalie Bedoin1, Catherine Thomas-Antérion, Jean-Michel Dorey
1Laboratoire Dynamique du Langage, Université de Lyon-CNRS, France. nathalie.bedoin@univ-lyon2.fr
Summary
Patients with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) show preserved sensitivity to disgust cues, despite behavioral changes like self-neglect. Implicit testing reveals they can process disgust, but struggle to link it with appropriate social behavior.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychology
- Clinical Neurology
Background:
- Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) presents early behavioral changes, including self-neglect and Diogenes syndrome.
- Patients may exhibit altered social behavior and emotional responses, particularly concerning disgust.
- The study investigates disgust sensitivity in FTD patients despite apparent outward indifference.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine if frontotemporal dementia patients retain sensitivity to disgust stimuli.
- To explore the relationship between behavioral changes and emotional processing in early-stage FTD.
- To assess implicit emotional processing of disgust in FTD.
Main Methods:
- A lexical decision task with emotional words and a number comparison task with emotional pictures were administered.
- Participants included 11 FTD patients, 11 age-matched healthy controls, and 34 young adults.
- Participants were not explicitly asked to identify emotional content.
Main Results:
- FTD patients exhibited delayed responses to disgust-inducing words and pictures.
- This delay was observed in both the lexical decision and number comparison tasks.
- Healthy controls did not show similar delays, indicating a specific deficit in FTD.
Conclusions:
- FTD patients remain sensitive to disgust, even with self-neglect and behavioral changes.
- Implicit testing demonstrates preserved disgust processing.
- FTD primarily impacts the ability to appropriately associate emotions like disgust with social behaviors.
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