Mario F Mendez1, Gerald T H Lim. 1. David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, The University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA. Mmendez@UCLA.edu
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the sense of "humanness" in frontotemporal dementia (FTD) patients with right hemispheric involvement. BACKGROUND: Early in the course, FTD is often asymmetric, and those with predominant right frontotemporal disease have disproportionate disturbances in social behavior and empathy. A disruption in a sense of humanness may underlie these behavioral disturbances. METHOD: Sixteen patients with asymmetric FTD on functional neuroimaging underwent recognition tests of facial masking, human-animal morphing, and facial distortion. Additional tests evaluated facial discrimination and the recognition of famous faces, facial emotions, and animate-inanimate differences. RESULTS: On the distorted and morphed face tasks, 8 FTD patients with predominant right hemisphere involvement were significantly more likely to call morphed and distorted faces "human" as compared with both 8 FTD patients with predominant left hemisphere involvement and normal controls. The FTD groups did not differ on thresholds for recognizing masked faces or on other face recognition measures. CONCLUSIONS: In FTD, right hemispheric involvement may alter the threshold for judging someone as human independent of the recognition of faces or facial affect. These results suggest that a specific sense of humanness facilitates a person recognition network in the right frontotemporal region of the brain.
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the sense of "humanness" in frontotemporal dementia (FTD) patients with right hemispheric involvement. BACKGROUND: Early in the course, FTD is often asymmetric, and those with predominant right frontotemporal disease have disproportionate disturbances in social behavior and empathy. A disruption in a sense of humanness may underlie these behavioral disturbances. METHOD: Sixteen patients with asymmetric FTD on functional neuroimaging underwent recognition tests of facial masking, human-animal morphing, and facial distortion. Additional tests evaluated facial discrimination and the recognition of famous faces, facial emotions, and animate-inanimate differences. RESULTS: On the distorted and morphed face tasks, 8 FTDpatients with predominant right hemisphere involvement were significantly more likely to call morphed and distorted faces "human" as compared with both 8 FTDpatients with predominant left hemisphere involvement and normal controls. The FTD groups did not differ on thresholds for recognizing masked faces or on other face recognition measures. CONCLUSIONS: In FTD, right hemispheric involvement may alter the threshold for judging someone as human independent of the recognition of faces or facial affect. These results suggest that a specific sense of humanness facilitates a person recognition network in the right frontotemporal region of the brain.
Authors: Madelaine Daianu; Neda Jahanshad; Mario F Mendez; George Bartzokis; Elvira E Jimenez; Paul M Thompson Journal: Proc SPIE Int Soc Opt Eng Date: 2015-03-20
Authors: Joseph P Barsuglia; Frances R Nedjat-Haiem; Jill S Shapira; Christina Velasco; Elvira E Jimenez; Michelle J Mather; Mario F Mendez Journal: Int Psychogeriatr Date: 2014-05-20 Impact factor: 3.878
Authors: Sylvia S Fong; Pongsatorn Paholpak; Madelaine Daianu; Mariel B Deutsch; Brandalyn C Riedel; Andrew R Carr; Elvira E Jimenez; Michelle M Mather; Paul M Thompson; Mario F Mendez Journal: Cortex Date: 2017-04-08 Impact factor: 4.027
Authors: Anli Liu; Kelly Werner; Subhojit Roy; John Q Trojanowski; Ursula Morgan-Kane; Bruce L Miller; Katherine P Rankin Journal: Neurocase Date: 2009-06 Impact factor: 0.881
Authors: Mario F Mendez; Sylvia S Fong; Jill S Shapira; Elvira E Jimenez; Natalie C Kaiser; Sarah A Kremen; Po-Heng Tsai Journal: Am J Alzheimers Dis Other Demen Date: 2013-12-26 Impact factor: 2.035