Russell, Lucy Louise;
(2020)
The Development of Novel Social Cognitive Test in Frontotemporal Dementia.
Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).
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Abstract
Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is the second most common cause of early onset dementia in individuals under the age of 65, and in around one third of cases there is a known genetic cause: mutations in chromosome 9 open reading frame 72 (C9orf72), progranulin (GRN) or microtubule-associated tau (MAPT). Language and behaviour are severely affected over the course of the disease, which consequently leads to the breakdown of social relationships. There are a number of problems with the current measures of social cognition, and the focus is mainly on symptomatic individuals, therefore missing those at-risk of FTD. Consequently, it is important to assess these tests in the at-risk cohort as we move towards therapeutic trials, and to also develop novel, more specific, and sensitive tasks. This thesis aims to address these issues using the current standardised tests, and modifying them into eye-tracking equivalents. The results highlight that the current measures are able to detect early social change, but only in individuals carrying a C9orf72 mutation who are within five years to their estimated onset. Two of the novel social cognitive tests showed promise as symptomatic individuals with FTD were able to complete them, but to a lesser extent than controls. Performance was not due to oculomotor deficits. An anti-saccade test also displayed deficits in executive function in symptomatic individuals compared to controls. When these eye-tracking tasks were trialled in an at-risk cohort, the anti-saccade test displayed decreased performance in the C9orf72 presymptomatic carriers compared to non-carriers; no differences were observed on the social cognitive tests. Consequently, this thesis demonstrates the need for new, more sensitive and specific tests for both symptomatic and presymptomatic individuals with FTD. This work highlights the need for careful test design, but it is clear that some tests are able to identify very early presymptomatic change in FTD.
| Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Qualification: | Ph.D |
| Title: | The Development of Novel Social Cognitive Test in Frontotemporal Dementia |
| Event: | UCL (University College London) |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © The Author 2020. Original content in this thesis is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Any third-party copyright material present remains the property of its respective owner(s) and is licensed under its existing terms. Access may initially be restricted at the author’s request. |
| Keywords: | FTD, Social Cognition, Eyetracking, bvFTD |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10104610 |
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