Human social cognition refers to the processes that subserve behavior in response to other individuals of the same species, and in particular, to those higher cognitive processes subserving the extremely diverse and flexible social behavior that are seen in human being. Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) produces changes in personality, behavior and social interaction. Several brain structures that play a key role in guiding social behaviors like prefrontal and temporal cortices are involved in FTD. It has been finding new links between emotion and reason, between action and perception, and between representations of other people and ourselves. The limbic system is the border zone where psychiatry meets neurology. Current debates concern the relative contributions made by a cognitive approach of the human social cognition to understand the early behavioral problems in FTD. Patients are usually referred because of mild behavioral problems, that receives either other kind of diagnosis or non diagnosis. It has been argued that our social nature that defines what make us human is affected in FTD. They have difficulties in executive functions, or in the ability to attribute mental state to others (theory of mind), or in emotional responsiveness to social stimuli or in decision making. When the early diagnosis is considered, the clinician could used this new cognitive approach to FTD.
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