TY - JOUR
T1 - The Ekman 60 Faces Test as a diagnostic instrument in frontotemporal dementia
AU - Diehl-Schmid, Janine
AU - Pohl, Corina
AU - Ruprecht, Carolin
AU - Wagenpfeil, Stefan
AU - Foerstl, Hans
AU - Kurz, Alexander
PY - 2007/5
Y1 - 2007/5
N2 - Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is characterized by dramatic changes of personality and behaviour. Impaired ability of emotional processing could contribute to these symptoms, as it may lead to misinterpretation of emotional cues that would normally guide behaviour. The aim of the present study was to investigate if the Ekman 60 Faces Test, an instrument to test the recognition of basic facial emotions, enables the differentiation between patients with mild FTD and cognitively healthy subjects (HC). We found that compared to 33 cognitively healthy subjects, 25 patients with mild FTD were impaired in the recognition of basic emotions. At a cut-off score from 46 out of 60 points, the Ekman 60 Faces Test discriminated between patients with mild FTD and HC with 97% diagnostic accuracy (sensitivity: 94%; specificity: 100%). The results of the present study were consistent with the findings of prior studies on smaller patient samples.
AB - Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is characterized by dramatic changes of personality and behaviour. Impaired ability of emotional processing could contribute to these symptoms, as it may lead to misinterpretation of emotional cues that would normally guide behaviour. The aim of the present study was to investigate if the Ekman 60 Faces Test, an instrument to test the recognition of basic facial emotions, enables the differentiation between patients with mild FTD and cognitively healthy subjects (HC). We found that compared to 33 cognitively healthy subjects, 25 patients with mild FTD were impaired in the recognition of basic emotions. At a cut-off score from 46 out of 60 points, the Ekman 60 Faces Test discriminated between patients with mild FTD and HC with 97% diagnostic accuracy (sensitivity: 94%; specificity: 100%). The results of the present study were consistent with the findings of prior studies on smaller patient samples.
KW - Behavioural disturbances
KW - Ekman 60 Faces Test
KW - Frontotemporal dementia
KW - Recognition of emotions
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=34249310192&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.acn.2007.01.024
DO - 10.1016/j.acn.2007.01.024
M3 - Article
C2 - 17360152
AN - SCOPUS:34249310192
SN - 0887-6177
VL - 22
SP - 459
EP - 464
JO - Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology
JF - Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology
IS - 4
ER -
