Episodic Past, Future, and counterfactual thinking in Relapsing-Remitting Multiple sclerosis.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a progressive disease characterized by widespread white matter lesions in the brain and spinal cord. In addition to well-characterized motor deficits, MS results in cognitive impairments in several domains, notably in episodic autobiographical memory. Recent studies have also revealed that patients with MS exhibit deficits in episodic future thinking, i.e., our capacity to imagine possible events that may occur in our personal future. Both episodic memory and episodic future thinking have been shown to share cognitive and neural mechanisms with a related kind of hypothetical simulation known as episodic counterfactual thinking: our capacity to imagine alternative ways in which past personal events could have occurred but did not. However, the extent to which episodic counterfactual thinking is affected in MS is still unknown. The current study sought to explore this issue by comparing performance in mental simulation tasks involving either past, future or counterfactual thoughts in relapsing-remitting MS. Diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) measures were also extracted to determine whether changes in structural pathways connecting the brain's default mode network (DMN) would be associated with group differences in task performance. Relative to controls, patients showed marked reductions in the number of internal details across all mental simulations, but no differences in the number of external and semantic-based details. It was also found that, relative to controls, patients with relapsing-remitting MS reported reduced composition ratings for episodic simulations depicting counterfactual events, but not so for actual past or possible future episodes. Additionally, three DWI measures of white matter integrity-fractional anisotropy, radial diffusivity and streamline counts-showed reliable differences between patients with relapsing-remitting MS and matched healthy controls. Importantly, DWI measures associated with reduced white matter integrity in three association tracts on the DMN-the right superior longitudinal fasciculus, the left hippocampal portion of the cingulum and the left inferior longitudinal fasciculus-predicted reductions in the number of internal details during episodic counterfactual simulations. Taken together, these results help to illuminate impairments in episodic simulation in relapsing-remitting MS and show, for the first time, a differential association between white matter integrity and deficits in episodic counterfactual thinking in individuals with relapsing-remitting MS.

Differential Effects of Experience and Information Cues on Metacognitive Judgments About Others' Change Detection Abilities.

This study explored the interaction between visual metacognitive judgments about others and cues related to the workings of System 1 and System 2. We examined how intrinsic cues (i.e., saliency of a visual change) and experience cues (i.e., detection/blindness) affect people's predictions about others' change detection abilities. In Experiment 1, 60 participants were instructed to notice a subtle and a salient visual change in a magic trick that exploits change blindness, after which they estimated the probability that others would detect the change. In Experiment 2, 80 participants watched either the subtle or the salient version of the trick and they were asked to provide predictions for the experienced change. In Experiment 1, participants predicted that others would detect the salient change more easily than the subtle change, which was consistent with the actual detection reported in Experiment 2. In Experiment 2, participants' personal experience (i.e., whether they detected the change) biased their predictions. Moreover, there was a significant difference between their predictions and offline predictions from Experiment 1. Interestingly, change blindness led to lower predictions. These findings point to joint contributions of experience and information cues on metacognitive judgments about other people's change detection abilities.

Recognition of musical emotions in the behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia.

INTRODUCTION: Multiple investigations have revealed that patients with behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) experience difficulty recognizing emotional signals in multiple processing modalities (e.g., faces, prosody). Few studies have evaluated the recognition of musical emotions in these patients. This research aims to evaluate the ability of subjects with bvFTD to recognize musical stimuli with positive and negative emotions, in comparison with healthy subjects. METHODS: bvFTD (n=12) and healthy control participants (n=24) underwent a test of musical emotion recognition: 56 fragments of piano music were randomly reproduced, 14 for each of the emotions (happiness, sadness, fear, and peacefulness). RESULTS: In the subjects with bvFTD, a mean of correct answers of 23.6 (42.26%) was observed in contrast to the control subjects, where the average number of correct answers was 36.3 (64.8%). Statistically significant differences were found for each of the evaluated musical emotions and in the total score on the performed test (P<.01). The within-group analysis showed greater difficulty for both groups in recognizing negative musical emotions (sadness, fear), with the subjects with bvFTD exhibiting worse performance. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that the recognition of musical stimuli with positive (happiness, peacefulness) and negative (sadness, fear) emotions are compromised in patients with bvFTD. The processing of negative musical emotions is the most difficult for these individuals.

Recognition of musical emotions in the behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia / Reconocimiento de emociones musicales en la variante conductual de la demencia frontotemporal

ABSTRACT Introduction: Multiple investigations have revealed that patients with behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) experience difficulty recognizing emotional signals in multiple processing modalities (e.g., faces, prosody). Few studies have evaluated the recognition of musical emotions in these patients. This research aims to evaluate the ability of subjects with bvFTD to recognize musical stimuli with positive and negative emotions, in comparison with healthy subjects. Methods: bvFTD (n = 12) and healthy control participants (n = 24) underwent a test of musical emotion recognition: 56 fragments of piano music were randomly reproduced, 14 for each of the emotions (happiness, sadness, fear, and peacefulness). Results: In the subjects with bvFTD, a mean of correct answers of 23.6 (42.26%) was observed in contrast to the control subjects, where the average number of correct answers was 36.3 (64.8%). Statistically significant differences were found for each of the evaluated musical emotions and in the total score on the performed test (P<.01). The within-group analysis showed greater difficulty for both groups in recognizing negative musical emotions (sadness, fear), with the subjects with bvFTD exhibiting worse performance. Conclusions: Our results indicate that the recognition of musical stimuli with positive (happiness, peacefulness) and negative (sadness, fear) emotions are compromised in patients with bvFTD. The processing of negative musical emotions is the most difficult for these individuals.

RESUMEN Introducción: Múltiples estudios han revelado que los sujetos con la variante conductual de la demencia frontotemporal (bvFTD) tienen dificultades para reconocer señales emocionales en múltiples diferentes modalidades de procesamiento (p. ej., rostros, prosodia). Actualmente, existen pocos estudios que evalúen el reconocimiento de emociones musicales en esta población. El objetivo de esta investigación es evaluar la capacidad de los sujetos con bvFTD para reconocer estímulos musicales con emociones positivas y negativas, en comparación con sujetos sanos. Métodos: Se evaluó a 12 pacientes con bvFTD y 24 controles sanos mediante una prueba de reconocimiento de emociones musicales. Se reprodujeron aleatoriamente 56 fragmentos de música de piano, 14 para cada una de las emociones (felicidad, tristeza, miedo y tranquilidad). Resultados: En los pacientes con bvFTD, se observó una media de respuestas correctas de 23,6 (42,26%), en contraste con los sujetos de control, quienes obtuvieron un promedio de respuestas correctas de 36,3 (64,8%). Se encontraron diferencias estadísticamente significativas para cada una de las emociones musicales evaluadas y en la puntuación total de la prueba (p < 0,01). El análisis intragrupal mostró una mayor dificultad en ambos grupos para el reconocimiento de emociones musicales negativas (tristeza, miedo), y los sujetos con bvFTD son los que mostraron peor desempeño. Conclusiones: Nuestros resultados indican que el reconocimiento de estímulos musicales con emociones positivas (felicidad, tranquilidad) y negativas (tristeza, miedo) se ve afectado en pacientes con bvFTD. Las emociones musicales negativas son las más difíciles de reconocer para estos pacientes.

Recognition of musical emotions in the behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia.

INTRODUCTION: Multiple investigations have revealed that patients with behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) experience difficulty recognizing emotional signals in multiple processing modalities (e.g., faces, prosody). Few studies have evaluated the recognition of musical emotions in these patients. This research aims to evaluate the ability of subjects with bvFTD to recognize musical stimuli with positive and negative emotions, in comparison with healthy subjects. METHODS: bvFTD (n=12) and healthy control participants (n=24) underwent a test of musical emotion recognition: 56 fragments of piano music were randomly reproduced, 14 for each of the emotions (happiness, sadness, fear, and peacefulness). RESULTS: In the subjects with bvFTD, a mean of correct answers of 23.6 (42.26%) was observed in contrast to the control subjects, where the average number of correct answers was 36.3 (64.8%). Statistically significant differences were found for each of the evaluated musical emotions and in the total score on the performed test (P<.01). The within-group analysis showed greater difficulty for both groups in recognizing negative musical emotions (sadness, fear), with the subjects with bvFTD exhibiting worse performance. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that the recognition of musical stimuli with positive (happiness, peacefulness) and negative (sadness, fear) emotions are compromised in patients with bvFTD. The processing of negative musical emotions is the most difficult for these individuals.

Validation of the Brief International Cognitive Assessment for Multiple Sclerosis (BICAMS) in a Colombian Population.

BACKGROUND: Cognitive impairment has been recognized as an important factor in multiple sclerosis (MS) in the past few years. One brief, reliable and valid tool to assess cognition in MS is the BICAMS, which encompasses the Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT), the California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT II), and the Brief Visuospatial Memory Test - Revised (BVMT-R). Continuing with the international initiative to validate the BICAMS in different countries, here we present the results obtained from the efforts in validating such test in the Colombian population. METHOD: 100 healthy controls and 50 MS patients participated in the study, group matched for age, education and gender. Subjects completed all three tests of the BICAMS. Instead of the CVLT-II, the Colombian validated form PAMCL (Prueba de Aprendizaje y Memoria con Codificación Libre) was used. Test-retest measures were obtained for 16 patients in order to test for reliability. RESULTS: Evidence of criterion validity was obtained, MS group performing significantly worse than HC group in all three tests (SDMT: p= .001, d= 0.59; PAMCL: p= .03, d= 0.38; BVMT-R: p<.001, d= 0.58). Test-retest was also obtained, finding significant correlations for all three tests (SDMT: r=0.932, p<.00; BVMT-R: r=0.863, p<.001; PAMCL: r=0.889, p<.001). Standardization of raw scores to uncontrolled scaled scores was done and these scores were then adjusted for age and years of schooling using a multiple linear regression. CONCLUSIONS: The BICAMS proved to be a valid and sensitive tool to screen for cognitive impairment in MS patients.

Exploiting failures in metacognition through magic: Visual awareness as a source of visual metacognition bias.

We used cognitive illusions/magic tricks to study the role of visual awareness as a source of biases in visual metacognitive judgments. We conducted a questionnaire-based study (n = 144) and an eye tracking study (n = 69) in which participants watched videos of four different magic tricks that capitalize on failures of visual awareness (inattentional blindness and change blindness). We measured participants' susceptibility to these illusions, their beliefs about other people's susceptibility, as well as the role that fixating (i.e. eye position) the critical event has on detecting the secret. Participants who detected the method of the tricks believed it was more likely that other people would detect it compared to those participants who failed to notice the method. Moreover, they believed that they moved their eyes to look at it. Eye tracking data show that, contrary to participants' beliefs, peripheral vision played a significant role in detecting the method. Overall, the findings from these studies suggest that visual awareness may bias visual metacognitive judgments.

Exploring the experience of episodic past, future, and counterfactual thinking in younger and older adults: A study of a Colombian sample.

Although extant evidence suggests that many neural and cognitive mechanisms underlying episodic past, future, and counterfactual thinking overlap, recent results have uncovered differences among these three processes. However, the extent to which there may be age-related differences in the phenomenological characteristics associated with episodic past, future and counterfactual thinking remains unclear. This study used adapted versions of the Memory Characteristics Questionnaire and the Autobiographical Interview in younger and older adults to investigate the subjective experience of episodic past, future and counterfactual thinking. The results suggest that, across all conditions, younger adults generated more internal details than older adults. However, older adults generated more external details for episodic future and counterfactual thinking than younger adults. Additionally, younger and older adults generated more internal details, and gave higher sensory and contextual ratings, for memories rather than future and counterfactual thoughts. Methodological and theoretical consequences for extant theories of mental simulation are discussed.

Aportes y limitaciones del Boston naming test: evidencia a partir de controles colombianos / Contributions and limitations of the Boston Naming Test: Evidence from colombian controls

Resumen Introducción: el Boston naming test (Kaplan, Goodglass & Weintraub, 1983, 2001) es una prueba de denominación por confrontación visual que evalúa la capacidad de acceso lexical. La influencia de variables socio-demográficas es significativa en esta tarea y es importante establecer sus características en cada población. Objetivo: analizar las características psicométricas del BNT en una población de controles colombianos, las respuestas erróneas de los mismos y plantear puntos de corte según variables sociodemográficas. Materiales y métodos: se analiza el desempeño de 252 participantes (74 hombres, 178 mujeres, 123 < de 65, 129 > de 65 años, en tres niveles de escolaridad (60 baja, 64 media, 128 alta). Se realizó un estudio descriptivo-comparativo. Se analizó la frecuencia de cada uno de los tipos de errores según los grupos de edad y escolaridad. Se realizó análisis desde la teoría clásica de los test (TCT) y se derivaron puntos de corte. Resultados: se encontró que en personas mayores de 65 años y con nivel bajo de escolaridad son comunes los errores de tipo visual y de no respuesta, mientras que en personas menores de 65 años y con escolaridad alta predominan errores semánticos y visual-semánticos. Se presenta un ordenamiento de los estímulos de menor a mayor dificultad y se identifican las particularidades del desempeño de los controles colombianos estudiados. Conclusión: se resalta la importancia de la prueba en el contexto colombiano, su utilidad, y algunos criterios clínicos ofrecidos por las características de los ítems para diferenciar del envejecimiento patológico.

Summary Introduction: The Boston Naming Test (Kaplan, Goodglass & Weintraub, 1983, 2001) is a test of visual confrontation naming that evaluates the ability of lexical access. The influence of socio-demographic variables is significant in this task and it is important to establish its characteristics in each population. Objective: To analyze the psychometric characteristics of BNT in a Colombian population of controls, analyze error types and raise cutoff points according to sociodemographic variables. Materials and methods: Performance of 252 participants (74 men, 178 women, 123 <65, 129> 65, at three levels of schooling (60 low, 64 medium, 128 high). The study is comparative-descriptive study. Frequency of each of error types according to age groups and schooling was analyzed. Analysis was performed from the Classic Theory of Tests (TCT), and cutoffs were derived. Results: We found that in people over 65 years with low education levels, the more frequent error types are visual and nonresponse, while in people under 65 and education level, semantic and visual-semantic errors predominate. An array of stimuli in increasing difficulty for the Colombian sample is presented and the particular performance of the studied Colombian controls are identified. Conclusion: The importance of the test in the Colombian context, its usefulness, and a highlight of some clinical criteria to differentiate normal from pathological aging are discussed.

Integration of Intention and Outcome for Moral Judgment in Frontotemporal Dementia: Brain Structural Signatures.

BACKGROUND: Moral judgment has been proposed to rely on a distributed brain network. This function is impaired in behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD), a condition involving damage to some regions of this network. However, no studies have investigated moral judgment in bvFTD via structural neuroimaging. METHODS: We compared the performance of 21 bvFTD patients and 19 controls on a moral judgment task involving scenarios that discriminate between the contributions of intentions and outcomes. Voxel-based morphometry was used to assess (a) the atrophy pattern in bvFTD patients, (b) associations between gray matter (GM) volume and moral judgments, and (c) structural differences between bvFTD subgroups (patients with relatively preserved moral judgment and patients with severer moral judgment impairments). RESULTS: Patients judged attempted harm as more permissible and accidental harm as less permissible than controls. The groups' performance on accidental harm was associated with GM volume in the precuneus. In controls, it was al- so associated with the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC). Also, both groups' performance on attempted harm was associated with GM volume in the temporoparietal junction. Patients exhibiting worse performance displayed smaller GM volumes in the precuneus and temporal pole. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest that moral judgment abnormalities in bvFTD are associated with impaired integration of intentions and outcomes, which depends on an extended brain network. In bvFTD, moral judgment seems to critically depend on areas beyond the VMPFC.

Estimating Intelligence in Spanish: Regression Equations With the Word Accentuation Test and Demographic Variables in Latin America.

Spanish is the fourth most spoken language in the world, and the majority of Spanish speakers have a Latin American origin. Reading aloud infrequently accentuated words has been established as a National Adult Reading Test-like method to assess premorbid intelligence in Spanish. However, several versions have been proposed and validated with small and selected samples, in particular geographical conditions, and they seldom derive a formula for IQ estimation with the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) Full-Scale IQ (FSIQ). The objective of this study was to develop equations to estimate WAIS-Third Edition (WAIS-III) FSIQ from the Word Accentuation Test-Revised (WAT-R), demographic variables, and their combination within diverse Latin American samples. Two hundred and forty participants from Argentina and Colombia, selected according to age and years of education strata, were assessed with the WAT-R, the WAIS-III, and a structured questionnaire about demographic and medical information. A combined approach including place of birth, years of education, and WAT-R provided the best equation, explaining 76% of IQ variance. These equations could be useful for estimating premorbid IQ in patients with Latin American Spanish as their birth language.

Primary empathy deficits in frontotemporal dementia.

Loss of empathy is an early central symptom and diagnostic criterion of the behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD). Although changes in empathy are evident and strongly affect the social functioning of bvFTD patients, few studies have directly investigated this issue by means of experimental paradigms. The current study assessed multiple components of empathy (affective, cognitive and moral) in bvFTD patients. We also explored whether the loss of empathy constitutes a primary deficit of bvFTD or whether it is explained by impairments in executive functions (EF) or other social cognition domains. Thirty-seven bvFTD patients with early/mild stages of the disease and 30 healthy control participants were assessed with a task that involves the perception of intentional and accidental harm. Participants were also evaluated on emotion recognition, theory of mind (ToM), social norms knowledge and several EF domains. BvFTD patients presented deficits in affective, cognitive and moral aspects of empathy. However, empathic concern was the only aspect primarily affected in bvFTD that was neither related nor explained by deficits in EF or other social cognition domains. Deficits in the cognitive and moral aspects of empathy seem to depend on EF, emotion recognition and ToM. Our findings highlight the importance of using tasks depicting real-life social scenarios because of their greater sensitivity in the assessment of bvFTD. Moreover, our results contribute to the understanding of primary and intrinsic empathy deficits of bvFTD and have important theoretical and clinical implications.

Comparing moral judgments of patients with frontotemporal dementia and frontal stroke.

IMPORTANCE: Several clinical reports have stated that patients with prefrontal lesions or patients with the behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia share social cognition impairments. Moral reasoning is impaired in both conditions but there have been few investigations that directly compare this domain in the 2 groups. OBSERVATIONS: This work compared the moral judgments of these patient groups using a task designed to disentangle the contributions of intentions and outcomes in moral judgment. For both disorders, patients judged scenarios where the protagonists believed that they would cause harm but did not as being more permissible than the control group. Moreover, patients with frontotemporal dementia judged harmful outcomes in the absence of harmful intentions as less permissible than the control participants. There were no differences between the 2 conditions. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Both disorders involved impairments in integrating intention and outcome information for moral judgment. This study was the first, to our knowledge, to directly compare a social cognition domain in 2 frontal pathologies with different etiology. Our results highlighted the importance of comparing patients with vascular lesions and patients with neurodegenerative diseases.

Structural neuroimaging of social cognition in progressive non-fluent aphasia and behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia.

Social cognition impairments are pervasive in the frontotemporal dementias (FTD). These deficits would be triggered by (a) basic emotion and face recognition processes as well as by (b) higher level social cognition (e.g., theory of mind, ToM). Both emotional processing and social cognition impairments have been previously reported in the behavioral variant of FTD (bvFTD) and also in other versions of FTDs, including primary progressive aphasia. However, no neuroanatomic comparison between different FTD variants has been performed. We report selective behavioral impairments of face recognition, emotion recognition, and ToM in patients with bvFTD and progressive non-fluent aphasia (PNFA) when compared to controls. Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) shows a classical impairment of mainly orbitofrontal (OFC), anterior cingulate (ACC), insula and lateral temporal cortices in patients. Comparative analysis of regional gray matter related to social cognition deficits (VBM) reveals a differential pattern of fronto-insulo-temporal atrophy in bvFTD and an insulo-temporal involvement in PNFA group. Results suggest that in spite of similar social cognition impairments reported in bvFTD and PNFA, the former represents an inherent ToM affectation whereas in the PNFA these deficits could be related to more basic processes of face and emotion recognition. These results are interpreted in the frame of the fronto-insulo-temporal social context network model (SCNM).

Demencia y creatividad: emergencia de una actividad pictórica en un paciente con afasia primaria progresiva / Dementia and Creativity: Emergence of Pictorial Activity in a Patient with Primary Progressive Aphasia

Introducción: Ocasionalmente, pacientes con síndromes que afectan áreas frontotemporales han desarrollado o una preocupación por el arte, o una emergencia de una actividad creativa pictórica no presente antes de su enfermedad. Objetivo: Presentar el caso de una mujer de 66 años de edad, quien no tenía interés artístico, pero comienza a pintar a los 56 años de edad, previa a la instauración de alteraciones comportamentales y de lenguaje expresivo. Un deterioro marcado del lenguaje y el comportamiento fue progresando hasta instaurarse una afasia primaria progresiva (APP), un subtipo de demencia frontotemporal (DFT) y su inusitado talento se convirtió en el primer síntoma de la APP. Método: Estudio de caso. Resultados: Se presentan y discuten los resultados neuropsicológicos, comportamentales y de imagen cerebral, ilustrando algunos jemplos de los cuadros pintados al óleo. Conclusión: El proceso cognoscitivo asociado a la creatividad surgida a partir de la APP, llamado facilitación funcional paradójica, está posiblemente relacionado con la patología del lóbulo dominante anterior temporal, que potencia la actividad cerebral posterior. Futuros esfuerzos encaminados a comprender el inicio de este inusitado talento enmarcan este estudio de caso...

Introduction: Patients with syndromes that involve fronto-temporal areas have developed oc-casionally, either an interest in art or an emergence of creative pictorial activity not present before the disease. Objective: We present the case of a 66 year-old woman who had no pre- morbid artistic ability but started to paint at the age of 56, before the onset of behavioral and expressive language impairment. Marked deterioration of language and behavior progressed to primary progressive aphasia (PPA), a subtype of FTD, and this unusual talent became the Àrst symptom of the disease. Design: Case study. Results: The neuropsychological, behavioral, and brain image results are discussed, and some examples of the oil pictures are shown. Conclusion: The cognitive process associated with the emergence of creativity in PPA is called paradoxical functional facilitation, and might be related to dominant anterior tem-poral lobe pathology that enhances posterior brain activity. Future efforts to comprehend the appearance of such an unusual talent frame this case study...

Detección temprana de la demencia: la perspectiva neuropsicológica / A neuropsychological glimpse to early detection of dementia

Los límites entre el deterioro cognoscitivo y el envejecimiento normal y entre ellos y la demencia, aún no se hanestablecido claramente. La heterogeneidad de las manifestaciones, la progresión de los síntomas clínicos propiosen uno y otra han complicado la distinción, no sólo del límite entre lo normal y patológico, sino del componentecognoscitivo comprometido. Más allá de si el deterioro cognoscitivo marca un lindero entre el envejecimientonormal y el patológico, se hace necesaria una adecuada identificación de si ello involucra sólo la memoria, u otrasáreas cognoscitivas. El deterioro cognoscitivo leve (MCI) de tipo amnésico, evoluciona hacia Enfermedad deAlzheimer (EA), el multidominio hacia EA y hacia demencia vascular y el MCI no amnésico, lo hace más hacialas demencias fronto-temporales o vasculares. La neuropsicología la estandarizado y validado diversas pruebas enespañol que permiten una correcta identificación del envejecimiento, del deterioro cognoscitivo y de las diversasformas clínicas de la demencia.

Demencia y creatividad: emergencia de una actividad pictórica en un paciente con afasiaprimaria progresiva / Dementia and Creativity: The Emergence of Pictorial Activity in a Patient with Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA)

Introducción: Pacientes con síndromes que afectan áreas frontotemporales han desarrollado ocasionalmente una preocupación por el arte o una emergencia de una actividad creativapictórica no presente antes de su enfermedad. Objetivo: Presentar el caso de una mujer de 66 años de edad que premórbidamente no tenía interés por el arte, pero comenzó a pintar a los 56 años, cuando aparecieron alteraciones conductuales y de expresión lingüística. El deterioromarcado del lenguaje y del comportamiento fue progresando hasta instaurarse una afasia primaria progresiva (APP), un subtipo de una demencia frontotemporal (DFT), y su inusitado talento se convirtió en el primer síntoma de la APP. Método: Estudio de caso. Resultados: Se presentan y discuten los resultados neuropsicológicos, comportamentales y de imagen cerebral, ilustrando con algunos de los cuadros pintados por la paciente. Conclusión: El proceso cognoscitivo asociado a la creatividad surgida a partir de la APP, llamado “facilitación funcional paradójica”, está posiblemente relacionado con la patología del lóbulo dominante anterior temporal que potencia la actividad cerebral posterior. Los esfuerzos encaminados a comprender el inicio de este inusitado talento enmarcan este estudio de caso...

Introduction: Patients with syndromes that involve fronto-temporal areas have developed occasionally, either an interest in art or an emergence of creative pictorial activity not presentbefore the disease. Objective: We present the case of a 66 year-old woman who had no premorbid artistic ability but started to paint at the age of 56, before the onset of behavioral and expressive language impairment. Marked deterioration of language and behavior progressed to primary progressive aphasia (PPA), a subtype of FTD, and this unusual talent became the first symptom of the disease. Design: Case study. Results: The neuropsychological, behavioral, and brain image results are discussed, andsome examples of the oil pictures are shown. Conclusion: The cognitive process associated with the emergence of creativity in PPA is called paradoxical functional facilitation, and might be related to dominant anterior temporallobe pathology that enhances posteriorbrain activity. Future efforts to comprehend the appearance of such an unusual talent frame this case study...

La anosognosia nn la enfermedad de alzheimer: ua aproximación clínica para el estudio de la concieniia / Anosognoia in allzheimer's disease: a clinical approach for the study of consciousness

In this article we will analyse the possibility of studying consciousness and the related brain structures, considering the data from patients with awareness deficits. We describe a clinical syndrome in which the patient loses the knowledge of his/her physical and/or cognitive state, called anosognosia. The article emphasises the description of this important syndrome in Alzheimer's Disease.

En este artículo expone la viabilidad de estudiar la conciencia y las estructuras cerebrales que la subyacen, paradójicamente, a partir de observaciones de pacientes con defectos en la capacidad de "ser concientes". Se presenta la Anosognosia, un síndrome clínico caracterizado por la pérdida del conocimiento del propio estado físico y/o cognoscitivo. Se describe este síndrome en la Enfermedad de Alzheimer (EA).

A cross-linguistic data bank for oral picture naming in Dutch, English, German, French, Italian, Russian, Spanish, and Swedish (PEDOI).

The well established effect of word frequency on adult's picture naming performance is now called into question. This is particularly true for variables which are correlated with frequency, as is the case of age of word acquisition. Since the work of [Carrol and White, 1973] there is growing agreement among researchers to confer an important role in lexical access to this variable. Indeed, it has been shown ( [Hodgson and Ellis, 1998]) that for normal English-speaking adults only the variables 'age-of-acquisition' and 'name agreement' are independent predictors of naming success among the various variables considered. However, when brain-damaged subjects with and without degenerative pathologies are studied, word frequency and word length as well as concept familiarity all give significant effects ( [Hirsh and Funnell, 1995]; [Lambon Ralph et al., 1998]; [Nickels and Howard, 1995]). Finally, it has been suggested that the production of specific error types may be related to such variables. According to [Nickels and Howard, 1994] the production of semantic errors is specifically affected by 'imageability' and in the recent study by [Kremin et al., 2001] 'age of acquisition' predicts (frank) word finding difficulties.

About the relationship between basic numerical processing and arithmetics in early Alzheimer's disease--a follow-up study.

We studied the relationship between basic numerical knowledge and arithmetics (facts and procedures) in early Alzheimer's Disease (AD). In most patients, basic numerical knowledge was found to be preserved, as reflected by low error rates, distance effect in number comparison, and subitizing in naming numerosities. However, within arithmetics, AD patients exhibited decreased fact and procedural knowledge. Interestingly, double dissociations were found not only between facts and procedures but also between basic numerical knowledge and arithmetics. Thus, our results suggest that basic numerical knowledge need not be a prerequisite for the maintenance of arithmetics, but rather corroborate calculation models that postulate the functional independence of its components. Further, we found patient specific error types which might serve to identify early AD. The follow-up about one year later indicated significant qualitative, but only marginal quantitative performance changes.