Time perception in patients with dementia with Lewy bodies

Disturbances of time perception could explain some behavioral disorders in patients with dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), and the aim of this preliminary study was to evaluate time perception in these patients. 7 patients with DLB (mean age = 82±6,8 years) were compared to 7 cognitively normal subjects (m = 81.2±6,8 years) for spatiotemporal orientation, verbal estimation, semantic knowledge, rhythm perception and verbal time estimation. The scores on the semantic scale of temporality were statistically different between the two groups, and patients made more rhythm errors than the control sample. Moreover, a significant improvement between the first and second assessment on verbal time estimation was found in the control subjetcs but not in the patients. Time perception seems to be disturbed in patients with DLB, but more studies are required to understand this result with the behavioural disorders.