Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39989634›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in psychology2025

Understanding basic and social emotions in Alzheimer's disease and frontotemporal dementia.

Carlotta Sola, Vanessa Zanelli, Maria Angela Molinari, Claudia Casadio, Francesco Ricci, Omar Carpentiero, Manuela Tondelli, Fausta Lui, Paolo Frigio Nichelli, Francesca Benuzzi

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Frontiers in psychology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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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

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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

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
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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

10 authors.

Carlotta Sola *Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Unit, AUSL-IRCCS di Reggio Emilia, Reggio Emilia, Italy.
Vanessa Zanelli *Department of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy.
Maria Angela MolinariAzienda Ospedaliero Universitaria (AOU) of Modena, Modena, Italy.
Claudia CasadioDepartment of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy.
Francesco RicciDepartment of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy.
Omar CarpentieroDepartment of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy.
Manuela TondelliDepartment of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy.
Fausta LuiDepartment of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy.
Paolo Frigio NichelliDepartment of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy.
Francesca BenuzziDepartment of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Introduction: Recent developments in the field of social cognition have led to a renewed interest in basic and social emotion recognition in early stages of Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and FrontoTemporal Dementia (FTD). Despite the growing attention to this issue, only few studies have attempted to investigate emotion recognition using both visual and vocal stimuli. In addition, recent studies have presented conflicting findings regarding the extent of impairment in patients in the early stages of these diseases. The present study aims to investigate emotion understanding (both basic and social emotions), using different tasks with visual and auditory stimuli, to identify supramodal deficits in AD and FTD to provide a reliable tool to better outline their behavioral and emotional profile and useful instruments for their management. Methods: Eighteen patients with AD and 15 patients with FTD were included in the study. Healthy control (HCs) subjects were recruited to obtain normative data for basic emotion recognition tests and social emotion recognition tasks. To evaluate basic emotion recognition, the Facial Emotion Recognition Battery (FERB) and the Emotional Prosody Recognition Battery (EPRB) were administered. To evaluate social emotion recognition, the Faux Pas (FP), Reading the Mind in the Eyes (RME), and Reading the Mind in the Voice (RMV) tests were employed. Results: FTD patients performed significantly worse than HCs in most of the subtests of the basic emotion recognition batteries, where, instead, AD patients were significantly impaired only when required to match emotional facial expression in different individuals (subtask of the FERB). Moreover, FTD patients scored significantly lower in RME and RMV tests compared both to AD patients and to HCs. In addition, ADs were selectively impaired in RMV as respect to HCs. Discussion: FTD patients showed deficits in emotion recognition, affecting both basic and social emotions, whether conveyed through facial expressions or prosody. This result may explain the well-known social behavioral difficulties observed in FTD patients from the early stages of the disease. The fewer and specific deficits in AD patients with comparable MMSE scores may be attributed to the mild degree of impairment, as these deficits may appear later in the progression of AD.

Indexed as

Alzheimer's diseaseemotional prosodyemotion recognitionfrontotemporal dementiaTheory of Mind

Identifiers

PMID39989634
PMCPMC11843492

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