Self-consciousness in Dementia

University Hospital, Strasbourg, France65 enrolled

Overview

The aim of this study is to characterize the deficit in critical components of personal identity (self-consciousness and social cognition) in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and fronto-temporal lobar dementia (FTLD), compared to healthy elderly, combining a neuropsychology and multi-podal neuroimaging study. We posit that the alteration of some aspects of self-consciousness (autobiographical memory, nosognosia, metacognition) and social cognition (theory of mind and facial) results in personality changes in the patients, primarily due to the alteration of self-consciousness in AD and to social cognition in FTLD.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

NON_RANDOMIZED

Purpose

OTHER

Masking

NONE

Enrollment

Conditions

Alzheimer Disease Fronto-temporal Lobar Dementia

Interventions

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 45 YearsMax age: 85 YearsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * AD (McKhann et al, 1984 and Dubois et al, 2007) or FTLD (Neary et al, 1998 or Rascovsky et al, 2011) * MMSE \> or = 18 * Relative avaible Exclusion Criteria: * Contraindication to MRI * Major depression * Other central neurological condition

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Characterize the deficit in critical components of personal identity in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and fronto-temporal lobar dementia (FTLD), compared to healthy elderly, combining a neuropsychology and multi-podal neuroimaging study.

Time frame: each month for 3 month