Social and Cultural Elements Associated with Neurocognitive Dysfunctions in Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 2 Patients

Abstract

Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 2 (SCA2) is a rare genetic disorder producing cerebellar degeneration and affecting motor abilities. Neuroimaging studies also show neurodegeneration in subcortical and cortical regions related to emotional and social processes. From social neuroscience, it is suggested that motor and social abilities can be influenced by particular cultural dynamics so, culture is fundamental to understand the effect of brain-related alterations. Here, we present the first analysis about the cultural elements related to the SCA2 disorder in 15 patients previously evaluated with neuroimaging and psychometric instruments, and their nuclear relationships distributed in six geographical and cultural regions in Mexico. Ethnographic records and photographic and video archives about the quotidian participant’s routine were obtained from the patients, their relatives and their caregivers. The information was categorized and interpreted taking into consideration cultural issues and patients’ medical files. Our analyses suggest that most of the participants do not understand the nature of the disease and this misunderstanding favors magic and non-medical explanations. Patients’ testimonies suggest a decrease in pain perception as well as motor alterations that may be related to interoceptive dysfunctions. Relatives’ testimonies indicate patients’ lack of social and emotional interests that may be related to frontal, temporal, and cerebellar degeneration. In general, participants use their religious beliefs to deal with the disease and only a few of them trust the health system. Patients and their families are either openly rejected and ignored, tolerated or even helped by their community accordingly to different regional traits. We propose that ethnography can provide social representations to understand the patients’ alterations, to formulate neurobiological hypotheses, to develop neurocognitive interventions, and to improve the medical approach to the disease.

The Franciscan Prayer Elicits Empathic and Cooperative Intentions in Atheists: A Neurocognitive and Phenomenological Enquiry

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Affective and cognitive brain-networks are differently integrated in women and men while experiencing compassion

“…Furthermore, the reciprocal connections of the cerebellum with the prefrontal and cingulate cortices point to its relevance for moral cognition ( Demirtas-Tatlidede and Schmahmann, 2013 ). Clinical approaches have reported that cerebellar damage causes alterations in mentalization, empathy, and social cognition ( Gerschcovich et al, 2011 ; Mercadillo et al, 2015b ). The relevance of the cerebellum for compassion may depend on sensory input, and how much it affects higher-order cognition remains unknown.…”

Moral emotions when reading quotidian circumstances in contexts of violence: an fMRI study

“…However, activation in the posterior cerebellum has been reported when watching and reading compassion-evoking stimuli in Mexican samples (Mercadillo, Alcauter, et al, 2015;Mercadillo et al, 2011Mercadillo et al, , 2017. Also, the cerebellum has been proposed as an important brain structure to regulate, express, and infer others' emotions through a neural network involving motor and sensorial-related cortical areas (Baumann & Mattingley, 2012;Mercadillo, Galvez, et al, 2015;Stoodley & Schmahmann, 2010). Therefore, we can infer that participants performed an introspective process, and not only a mere resting condition; introspection may not be a passive process, but related to active inner imaginative sensorial and motor processes.…”