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Behavioral and fMRI responses to fearful faces are altered in benign childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes (BCECTS)
Author(s) -
Ciumas Carolina,
Laurent Agathe,
Saignavongs Mani,
Ilski Faustine,
Bellescize Julitta,
Panagiotakaki Eleni,
OstrowskyCoste Karine,
Arzimanoglou Alexis,
Herbillon Vania,
Ibarrola Danielle,
Ryvlin Philippe
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
epilepsia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.687
H-Index - 191
eISSN - 1528-1167
pISSN - 0013-9580
DOI - 10.1111/epi.13858
Subject(s) - epilepsy , neuroscience , psychology , audiology , electroencephalography , developmental psychology , medicine
Summary Objective We hypothesized that children with benign childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes ( BCECTS ) might have altered social cognitive skills and underlying neural networks. Methods We studied 13 patients with BCECTS and 11 age‐matched controls using event‐related functional magnetic resonance imaging ( fMRI ) with an emotional discrimination task consisting of viewing happy, fearful, scrambled, and neutral faces. Behavioral performance measured during the task was correlated with clinical variables and behavioral ratings. Results In comparison with age‐matched controls, children with BCECTS performing a fearful faces detection task showed significantly reduced bilateral fMRI activation in the insular cortex, caudate, and lentiform nuclei, as well as increased response time. The percentage of errors made by children with BCECTS correlated negatively with age, a finding not observed in controls. In patients, accuracy positively correlated with time since the last seizure. The above abnormalities were not observed during happy faces detection task, except for a slower response in children with BCECTS as compared to controls. Significance Our study suggests that BCECTS is associated with altered social cognition network and function, particularly for the identification of fearful faces. The age dependency of some of these findings supports the view that a delayed maturation of spiking cortical regions might underlie the cognitive dysfunction observed in BCECTS .