Destination memory in behavioral-variant frontotemporal dementia.

objectiveWhile behavioral-variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) is mainly associated with deficits in emotional processing, little is known about how these deficits can be associated with memory dysfunction during social interactions. We thus assessed destination memory in bvFTD, i.e., the ability to remember to whom a piece of information was previously transmitted.

methodsWe invited patients with bvFTD and control participants to tell some facts to a neutral, an emotionally positive, or an emotionally negative face. Subsequently, we invited participants to remember which facts were told to each face.

resultsAnlaysis demonstrated lower memory for neutral, positive, and negative destinations in patients with bvFTD compared to control participants. While control participants demonstrated higher retention for facts directed to negative than positive or neutral destinations, patients with bvFTD showed no differences across the three categories of emotional destinations. Interestingly, destination memory was correlated with affective theory of mind in both patients with bvFTD and control participants.

conclusionIn daily communication, the emotional states of interlocutors seem to little influence the ability of patients with bvFTD to associate a piece of information with its destination. The destination memory decline in patients with bvFTD can be further associated with their hampered ability to attribute affective states to others to explain and predict the others’ feelings.