Affiliations: [a] Aging Psychiatry Unit, University Hospital Le Vinatier, Bron, France
| [b] Memory Clinical and Research Center of Saint Etienne (CMRR), Neurology Unit, University Hospital of Saint Etienne, Saint-Etienne, France
| [c] INSERM U 1219, Bordeaux Population Health Center, University of Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France
| [d] Memory Clinical and Research Center of Lyon (CMRR), Aging Institute I-Vie, University Hospital of Lyon, Villeurbanne, France
| [e] Brain Dynamics and Cognition, Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, INSERM U1028, CNRS UMR 5292, Lyon, France
Correspondence:
[*]
Correspondence to: Martin Comon, Aging Psychiatry Unit, University Hospital Le Vinatier, Bron, France. Tel.: +33 683176230; E-mail: martin.comon@ch-le-vinatier.fr.
Note: [1] These authors contributed equally to this work.
Note: [] The PACO study has been registered in the Clinical Trials database (Current controlled Trials NCT01297140: https://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT01297140).
Abstract: Background:Facial emotion recognition (FER) and gaze direction (GD) identification are core components of social cognition, possibly impaired in many psychiatric or neurological conditions. Regarding Alzheimer’s disease (AD), current knowledge is controversial. Objective:The aim of this study was to explore FER and GD identification in mild AD compared to healthy controls. Methods:180 participants with mild AD drawn from the PACO study and 74 healthy elderly controls were enrolled. Participants were asked to complete three socio-cognitive tasks: face sex identification, recognition of facial emotions (fear, happiness, anger, disgust) expressed at different intensities, and GD discrimination. Multivariate analyses were conducted to compare AD participants and healthy controls. Results:Sex recognition was preserved. GD determination for subtle deviations was impaired in AD. Recognition of prototypically expressed facial emotions was preserved while recognition of degraded facial emotions was impacted in AD participants compared to controls. Use of multivariate analysis suggested significant alteration of low-expressed fear and disgust recognition in the AD group. Conclusion:Our results showed emotion recognition and GD identification in patients with early-stage AD compared to elderly controls. These impairments could be the object of specific therapeutic interventions such as social cognition remediation or raising awareness of primary caregivers to improve the quality of life of patients with early AD.
Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease, elderly, facial emotion recognition, social cognition
