The Pattern of Mu Rhythm Modulation During Emotional Destination Memory: Comparison Between Mild Cognitive Impairment Patients and Healthy Controls

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Iliadou, Paraskevi^{a; b; 1} | Kladi, Anastasia^{a; 1; *} | Frantzidis, Christos A.^c | Gilou, Sotiria^c | Tepelena, Ioanna^c | Gialaouzidis, Moses^e | Papaliagkas, Vasileios^d | Nigdelis, Vasilis^c | Nday, Christiane M.^c | Kiosseoglou, Grigorios^a | Papantoniou, Georgia^{b; e; f} | Bamidis, Panagiotis D.^c | Tsolaki, Magda^{b; e; g} | Moraitou, Despina^{a; b; e}

Affiliations: [a] Laboratory of Psychology, School of Psychology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece | [b] Laboratory of Neurodegenerative Diseases, Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Innovation (CIRI – AUTH) Balkan Center, Buildings A & B, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece | [c] Laboratory of Medical Physics, Medical School, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece | [d] Laboratory of Clinical Neurophysiology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece | [e] Greek Association of Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders (Alzheimer Hellas), Thessaloniki, Greece | [f] Department of Early Childhood Education, School of Education, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece | [g] 1st Department of Neurology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece

Correspondence: [*] Correspondence to: Anastasia Kladi, 1/1, 58 Love street, PA3 2DY Paisley, UK. Tel.: +447548542462, +306986712978; E-mail: kladianast@psy.auth.gr.

Note: [1] These authors contributed equally to this work.

Abstract: Leading theories of affect development and empirical studies suggest that emotion can enhance memory in older adults. Destination memory which is defined as the ability to remember to whom we told a piece of information is being found to be compromised in aging. In the present study, we sought to assess destination memory using emotional stimuli (Emotional Destination Memory, EDM) in 16 older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and 16 healthy controls and shed light onto its potential neurophysiological aspects. We measured Mu suppression in frontal and temporal regions via EEG in real time while participants performed the task of EDM. Results showed no group differences in task performance but significant differences in fronto-temporal activations, specifically in electrodes F7 and F8. Differential Mu rhythm pattern was observed between healthy controls and MCI with the first exhibiting Mu suppression and the last Mu enhancement. Furthermore, Mu enhancement in temporal electrodes within the MCI group was associated with lower scores on EDM. The absence of group differences in the task can be explained by the fact that even if there are underlying structural or functional deficits in the MCI group, these deficits are manifested only at neurophysiological level and not at a behavioral level, which is a common pattern in the process of cognitive decline in its initial phases. The overall findings reveal that, even if there are not any behavioral decrements in MCI patients, they show reduced activations in fronto-temporal regions and this can be attributed to general impairment in emotional destination memory due to possible mirror neuron deficiency.

Keywords: Emotional destination memory, fronto-temporal, mild cognitive impairment, mirror neurons, Mu suppression

DOI: 10.3233/JAD-190311

Journal: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, vol. 71, no. 4, pp. 1201-1215, 2019