Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33557926›Full record

ArticleAlzheimer's research & therapy2021

Novel instructionless eye tracking tasks identify emotion recognition deficits in frontotemporal dementia.

Lucy L Russell, Caroline V Greaves, Rhian S Convery, Jennifer Nicholas, Jason D Warren, Diego Kaski, Jonathan D Rohrer

Open access · goldAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Alzheimer's research & therapy, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
1.2field-weighted citation impact, top 23% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 12 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
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  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Review
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Lucy L RussellDementia Research Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London, WC1N 3BG, UK. l.russell@ucl.ac.uk.ORCID 0000-0001-5023-5893
Caroline V GreavesDementia Research Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London, WC1N 3BG, UK.
Rhian S ConveryDementia Research Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London, WC1N 3BG, UK.
Jennifer NicholasDepartment of Medical Statistics, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
Jason D WarrenDementia Research Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London, WC1N 3BG, UK.
Diego KaskiCentre for Vestibular and Behavioural Neurosciences, Department of Clinical and Motor Neurosciences, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London, UK.
Jonathan D RohrerDementia Research Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London, WC1N 3BG, UK.
UK Dementia Research Institute · GBLondon School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine · GBQueen Mary University of London · GB

Funding

Medical Research Council MR/M008525/1Medical Research Council MR/M023664/1Medical Research Council MR/T046015/1
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundCurrent tasks measuring social cognition are usually 'pen and paper' tasks, have ceiling effects and include complicated test instructions that may be difficult to understand for those with cognitive impairment. We therefore aimed to develop a set of simple, instructionless, quantitative, tasks of emotion recognition using the methodology of eye tracking, with the subsequent aim of assessing their utility in individuals with behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD).

methodsUsing the Eyelink 1000 Plus eye tracker, 18 bvFTD and 22 controls completed tasks of simple and complex emotion recognition that involved viewing four images (one target face (simple) or pair of eyes (complex) and the others non-target) followed by a target emotion word and lastly the original four images alongside the emotion word. A dwell time change score was then calculated as the main outcome measure by subtracting the percentage dwell time for the target image before the emotion word appeared away from the percentage dwell time for the target image after the emotion word appeared. All participants also underwent a standard cognitive battery and volumetric T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging.

resultsAnalysis using a mixed effects model showed that the average (standard deviation) mean dwell time change score in the target interest area was 35 (27)% for the control group compared with only 4 (18)% for the bvFTD group (p < 0.05) for the simple emotion recognition task, and 15 (26)% for the control group compared with only 2 (18)% for the bvFTD group (p < 0.05) for the complex emotion recognition task. Worse performance in the bvFTD group correlated with atrophy in the right ventromedial prefrontal and orbitofrontal cortices, brain regions previously implicated in social cognition.

conclusionsIn summary, eye tracking is a viable tool for assessing social cognition in individuals with bvFTD, being well-tolerated and able to overcome some of the problems associated with standard psychometric tasks.

Indexed as

Frontotemporal DementiaBrainEmotionsEye-Tracking TechnologyHumansMagnetic Resonance ImagingNeuropsychological TestsBehavioural variant frontotemporal dementiaEmotion recognitionEye trackingOrbitofrontal cortexSocial cognitionVentromedial prefrontal cortex

Identifiers

PMID33557926
PMCPMC7871635
OpenAlexW3127131134

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.