Executive dysfunction predicts social cognition impairment in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Abstract

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disorder of the motor system with recognised extra-motor and cognitive involvement. This cross-sectional study examined ALS patients' performance on measures requiring social inference, and determined the relationship between such changes and variations in mood, behaviour, personality, empathy and executive function. Fifty-five ALS patients and 49 healthy controls were compared on tasks measuring social cognition and executive function. ALS patients also completed measures examining mood, behaviour and personality. Regression analyses explored the contribution of executive function, mood, behaviour and personality to social cognition scores within the ALS sample. A between-group MANOVA revealed that, the ALS group was impaired relative to controls on two composite scores for social cognition and executive function. Patients also performed worse on individual tests of executive function measuring cognitive flexibility, response inhibition and concept formation, and on individual aspects of social cognition assessing the attribution of emotional and mental states. Regression analyses indicated that ALS-related executive dysfunction was the main predictor of social cognition performance, above and beyond demographic variables, behaviour, mood and personality. On at least some aspects of social cognition, impaired performance in ALS appears to be secondary to executive dysfunction. The profile of cognitive impairment in ALS supports a cognitive continuum between ALS and frontotemporal dementia.

Behavioural But Not Cognitive Impairment Is a Determinant of Caregiver Burden in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

“…These data could probably be different for different cultures and therefore needs replication. Furthermore, the finding suggests that burden might be better explored using tests dedicated to socio-emotional deficits, assessing empathy or apathy, although the main predictor of social cognition performances in ALS patients was recently found to be an executive dysfunction rather than a behavioural one [11] .…”

Illness trajectories in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: How illness progression is related to life narratives and interpersonal relationships

“…In a minority of cases (about 13%), such impairment can take the form of fronto‐temporal dementia (Phukan et al., ). Patients with ALS who present cognitive impairment usually exhibit comorbidity with impairment both at the behavioural level and in social cognition (Carluer et al., ; Watermeyer et al., ).…”

Exploring Olfactory Function and Its Relation with Behavioral and Cognitive Impairment in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Patients: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…Overall, since most of the patients included presented a short disease duration, we do not know if olfactory function may be impaired during the course of the disease also in ALS-N, thus losing its diagnostic power. Moreover, our results should be verified using a more extensive neuropsychological battery (including deeper language [25], social cognition [26] and odor detection threshold tests) in order to find out a more specific correlation between olfactory function and fronto-temporo-insular area.…”