Motor signatures of emotional reactivity in frontotemporal dementia

Scientific Reports

Charles R. Marshall¹  Emilie V. Brotherhood¹  Chris J. D. Hardy¹  Rebecca L. Bond¹  Jonathan M. Schott¹  Jonathan D. Rohrer¹  Cath J. Mummery¹  Camilla N. Clark¹  Jason D. Warren¹  Lucy L. Russell¹  Katrina M. Dick¹  James M. Kilner² 

[1]Dementia Research Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, Institute of Neurology, University College London, Queen Square

[2]Sobell Department of Motor Neuroscience and Movement Disorders, Institute of Neurology, University College London

DOI  :  10.1038/s41598-018-19528-2

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Abstract Automatic motor mimicry is essential to the normal processing of perceived emotion, and disrupted automatic imitation might underpin socio-emotional deficits in neurodegenerative diseases, particularly the frontotemporal dementias. However, the pathophysiology of emotional reactivity in these diseases has not been elucidated. We studied facial electromyographic responses during emotion identification on viewing videos of dynamic facial expressions in 37 patients representing canonical frontotemporal dementia syndromes versus 21 healthy older individuals. Neuroanatomical associations of emotional expression identification accuracy and facial muscle reactivity were assessed using voxel-based morphometry. Controls showed characteristic profiles of automatic imitation, and this response predicted correct emotion identification. Automatic imitation was reduced in the behavioural and right temporal variant groups, while the normal coupling between imitation and correct identification was lost in the right temporal and semantic variant groups. Grey matter correlates of emotion identification and imitation were delineated within a distributed network including primary visual and motor, prefrontal, insular, anterior temporal and temporo-occipital junctional areas, with common involvement of supplementary motor cortex across syndromes. Impaired emotional mimesis may be a core mechanism of disordered emotional signal understanding and reactivity in frontotemporal dementia, with implications for the development of novel physiological biomarkers of socio-emotional dysfunction in these diseases.

【 授权许可】

Unknown