Open AccessPhysiological phenotyping of dementias using emotional sounds
Author(s) -
Fletcher Phillip D.,
Nicholas Jennifer M.,
Shakespeare Timothy J.,
Downey Laura E.,
Golden Hannah L.,
Agustus Jennifer L.,
Clark Camilla N.,
Mummery Catherine J.,
Schott Jonathan M.,
Crutch Sebastian J.,
Warren Jason D.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
alzheimer's and dementia: diagnosis, assessment and disease monitoring
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.497
H-Index - 37
ISSN - 2352-8729
DOI - 10.1016/j.dadm.2015.02.003
Subject(s) - frontotemporal dementia , psychology , dementia , salience (neuroscience) , cognitive psychology , affect (linguistics) , audiology , neuroscience , disease , medicine , communication , pathology
Emotional behavioral disturbances are hallmarks of many dementias but their pathophysiology is poorly understood. Here we addressed this issue using the paradigm of emotionally salient sounds. Methods Pupil responses and affective valence ratings for nonverbal sounds of varying emotional salience were assessed in patients with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) (n = 14), semantic dementia (SD) (n = 10), progressive nonfluent aphasia (PNFA) (n = 12), and AD (n = 10) versus healthy age‐matched individuals (n = 26). Results Referenced to healthy individuals, overall autonomic reactivity to sound was normal in Alzheimer's disease (AD) but reduced in other syndromes. Patients with bvFTD, SD, and AD showed altered coupling between pupillary and affective behavioral responses to emotionally salient sounds. Discussion Emotional sounds are a useful model system for analyzing how dementias affect the processing of salient environmental signals, with implications for defining pathophysiological mechanisms and novel biomarker development.