Cognition and Emotional Processing in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event Cognition and Emotional Processing in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Tom Burke1, 2*, Marwa Elamin2, Orla Hardiman2, 3 and Niall Pender1, 2, 4 1 Beaumont Hospital, Department of Psychology, Ireland 2 Trinity College Dublin, Academic Unit of Neurology, School of Medicine, Ireland 3 Beaumont Hospital, Department of Neurology, Ireland 4 Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI), Ireland Background: Executive dysfunction is known to occur in early stages of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). Social cognitive processes are considered by some to be subsumed by executive functions and brain atrophy is known to occur in cortical and subcortical regions involving cognitive functions in ALS, congruent with the neuroanatomical basis for social cognitive processes. Objectives The aims of this research were to investigate social-cognitive decline, relative to auxiliary cognitive decline. Methodology Participants were recruited as part of an ongoing population based study investigating cognitive heterogeneity in ALS. After removing patients whom were C9orf72 positive, participants were grouped based on whether patients had bulbar (n=20) or spinal onset (n=39) ALS. Gender, age, IQ and education matched healthy controls were used to generate culturally specific comparative data for within-patient analyses (N=59). Results On affective ToM, there was a significant difference between bulbar and spinal onset patients on this task (p= .001). Comparing bulbar and spinal patients standardized scores of executive function yielded no significant differences. Discussion and Conclusions Results indicate the presence of social-affective deficits within ALS, prior to characteristic executive and language dysfunction, for bulbar onset patients without comorbid deficits. These findings shall be discussed in relation to current research and cognitive theory, as well as ongoing population based ALS research. Acknowledgements Acknowledgements: The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement no (259867);the JPND SOPHIA project; Irish Health Research Board CSA2012/11 and the Irish Institute of Clinical Neuroscience (12549. 201616). The authors would like to kindly thank and acknowledge the participants of this research. Keywords: Social Cognitive Affective Neuroscience, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Ireland, neuropsychological assessment, Executive Function Conference: Neuroscience Ireland Young Neuroscientists Symposium 2014 , Dublin, Ireland, 20 Sep - 20 Sep, 2014. Presentation Type: Oral Presentation Topic: Early Career Neuroscience Citation: Burke T, Elamin M, Hardiman O and Pender N (2014). Cognition and Emotional Processing in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. Front. Neurosci. Conference Abstract: Neuroscience Ireland Young Neuroscientists Symposium 2014 . doi: 10.3389/conf.fnins.2014.87.00005 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 04 Sep 2014; Published Online: 05 Sep 2014. * Correspondence: Mr. Tom Burke, Beaumont Hospital, Department of Psychology, Dublin 9, Ireland, tom.m.burke@ucd.ie Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Tom Burke Marwa Elamin Orla Hardiman Niall Pender Google Tom Burke Marwa Elamin Orla Hardiman Niall Pender Google Scholar Tom Burke Marwa Elamin Orla Hardiman Niall Pender PubMed Tom Burke Marwa Elamin Orla Hardiman Niall Pender Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.