Dataset Information

Perception of Emotional Facial Expressions in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) at Behavioural and Brain Metabolic Level.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) primarily impairs motor abilities but also affects cognition and emotional processing. We hypothesise that subjective ratings of emotional stimuli depicting social interactions and facial expressions is changed in ALS. It was found that recognition of negative emotions and ability to mentalize other's intentions is reduced.

Methods

Processing of emotions in faces was investigated. A behavioural test of Ekman faces expressing six basic emotions was presented to 30 ALS patients and 29 age-, gender and education matched healthy controls. Additionally, a subgroup of 15 ALS patients that were able to lie supine in the scanner and 14 matched healthy controls viewed the Ekman faces during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Affective state and a number of daily social contacts were measured.

Results

ALS patients recognized disgust and fear less accurately than healthy controls. In fMRI, reduced brain activity was seen in areas involved in processing of negative emotions replicating our previous results. During processing of sad faces, increased brain activity was seen in areas associated with social emotions in right inferior frontal gyrus and reduced activity in hippocampus bilaterally. No differences in brain activity were seen for any of the other emotional expressions. Inferior frontal gyrus activity for sad faces was associated with increased amount of social contacts of ALS patients.

Conclusion

ALS patients showed decreased brain and behavioural responses in processing of disgust and fear and an altered brain response pattern for sadness. The negative consequences of neurodegenerative processes in the course of ALS might be counteracted by positive emotional activity and positive social interactions.

SUBMITTER: Aho-Ozhan HE

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5065224 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Perception of Emotional Facial Expressions in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) at Behavioural and Brain Metabolic Level.

Aho-Özhan Helena E A HE Keller Jürgen J Heimrath Johanna J Uttner Ingo I Kassubek Jan J Birbaumer Niels N Ludolph Albert C AC Lulé Dorothée D

PloS one 20161014 10

<h4>Introduction</h4>Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) primarily impairs motor abilities but also affects cognition and emotional processing. We hypothesise that subjective ratings of emotional stimuli depicting social interactions and facial expressions is changed in ALS. It was found that recognition of negative emotions and ability to mentalize other's intentions is reduced.<h4>Methods</h4>Processing of emotions in faces was investigated. A behavioural test of Ekman faces expressing six bas ...[more]

PMID: 27741285

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Project description:Thoughtful clinical trial design is critical for efficient therapeutic development, particularly in the field of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), where trials often aim to detect modest treatment effects among a population with heterogeneous disease progression. Appropriate outcome measure selection is necessary for trials to provide decisive and informative results. Investigators must consider the outcome measure's reliability, responsiveness to detect change when change has actually occurred, clinical relevance, and psychometric performance. ALS clinical trials can also be performed more efficiently by utilizing statistical enrichment techniques. Innovations in ALS prediction models allow for selection of participants with less heterogeneity in disease progression rates without requiring a lead-in period, or participants can be stratified according to predicted progression. Statistical enrichment can reduce the needed sample size and improve study power, but investigators must find a balance between optimizing statistical efficiency and retaining generalizability of study findings to the broader ALS population. Additional progress is still needed for biomarker development and validation to confirm target engagement in ALS treatment trials. Selection of an appropriate biofluid biomarker depends on the treatment mechanism of interest, and biomarker studies should be incorporated into early phase trials. Inclusion of patients with ALS as advisors and advocates can strengthen clinical trial design and study retention, but more engagement efforts are needed to improve diversity and equity in ALS research studies. Another challenge for ALS therapeutic development is identifying ways to respect patient autonomy and improve access to experimental treatment, something that is strongly desired by many patients with ALS and ALS advocacy organizations. Expanded access programs that run concurrently to well-designed and adequately powered randomized controlled trials may provide an opportunity to broaden access to promising therapeutics without compromising scientific integrity or rushing regulatory approval of therapies without adequate proof of efficacy.

Dataset Information

Perception of Emotional Facial Expressions in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) at Behavioural and Brain Metabolic Level.

Introduction

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Publications

Perception of Emotional Facial Expressions in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) at Behavioural and Brain Metabolic Level.

Similar Datasets

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