Top

Published in:

01-02-2013 | Original Communication

Cognitive and affective theory of mind in patients with essential tremor

Authors: Gabriella Santangelo, Luigi Trojano, Paolo Barone, Domenico Errico, Ilaria Improta, Valeria Agosti, Dario Grossi, Giuseppe Sorrentino, Carmine Vitale

Published in: Journal of Neurology | Issue 2/2013

Abstract

The theory of mind (ToM) is the ability to attribute mental states to oneself and others and to understand that others have beliefs, desires and intentions different from one’s own. The aim of the present study was to explore the neuropsychological correlates of cognitive and affective ToM in patients affected by essential tremor (ET). Thirty consecutive ET outpatients and 30 healthy age-, sex- and education-matched control subjects underwent tasks assessing short-term memory, verbal learning and executive functions, as well as tasks assessing “cognitive” and “affective” ToM; questionnaires evaluating behavioral disorders and quality of life were also administered. Although the two groups did not differ on demographic variables, ET patients scored worse on memory tasks, and showed more apathy and worse quality of life than controls. After covarying for mnestic, behavioral and quality of life scores, ET patients achieved significantly lower scores than controls on task assessing cognitive ToM, whereas no difference was found between the two groups on task assessing affective ToM. In ET, “Cognitive” ToM was significantly associated with frontal tasks, whereas “Affective” ToM was not correlated with cognitive, behavioral or quality of life scales. Our results indicate that cognitive aspects of ToM may be selectively impaired in ET. Possible underlying neural mechanisms of the deficits are discussed.

Premack D, Woodruff G (1978) Does the chimpanzee have a theory of mind? Behav Brain Sci 4:515–526CrossRef

Frith CD, Frith U (1999) Interacting minds: a biological basis. Science 286:1692–1695PubMedCrossRef

Siegal M, Varley R (2002) Neural systems involved in “theory of mind”. Nat Rev Neurosci 3:463–471PubMed

Adolphs R (2003) Cognitive neuroscience of human social behaviour. Nat Rev Neurosci 4:165–178PubMedCrossRef

Shamay-Tsoory SG, Shur S, Barcai-Goodman L, Medlovich S, Harari H, Levkovitz Y (2007) Dissociation of cognitive from affective components of theory of mind in schizophrenia. Psychiatry Res 149:11–23PubMedCrossRef

Shamay-Tsoory SG, Tomer R, Goldsher D, Berger BD, Aharon-Peretz J (2004) Impairment in cognitive and affective empathy in patients with brain lesions: anatomical and cognitive correlates. J Clin Exp Neuropsychol 26:1113–1127PubMedCrossRef

Abu-Akel A, Shamay-Tsoory S (2011) Neuroanatomical and neurochemical bases of theory of mind. Neuropsychologia 49:2971–2984PubMedCrossRef

Shaw P, Lawrence EJ, Radbourne C, Bramham J, Polkey CE, David AS (2004) The impact of early and late damage to the human amygdale on ‘theory of mind’ reasoning. Brain 127:1535–1548PubMedCrossRef

Channon S, Crawford S (2000) The effects of anterior lesions on performance on a story comprehension test: left anterior impairment on a theory of mind-type task. Neuropsychologia 38:1006–1017PubMedCrossRef

10.

Adenzato M, Cavallo M, Enrici I (2010) Theory of mind ability in the behavioural variant of frontotemporal dementia: an analysis of the neural, cognitive, and social levels. Neuropsychologia 48:2–12PubMedCrossRef

11.

Gleichgerrcht E, Torralva T, Roca M, Manes F (2010) Utility of an abbreviated version of the executive and social cognition battery in the detection of executive deficits in early behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia patients. J Int Neuropsychol Soc 16:687–694PubMedCrossRef

12.

Torralva T, Roca M, Gleichgerrcht E, Bekinschtein T, Manes F (2009) A neuropsychological battery to detect specific executive and social cognitive impairments in early frontotemporal dementia. Brain 132:1299–1309PubMedCrossRef

13.

Henry A, Tourbah A, Chaunu MP, Rumbach L, Montreuil M, Bakchine S (2011) Social cognition impairments in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. J Int Neuropsychol Soc 17:1122–1131PubMedCrossRef

14.

Banati M, Sandor J, Mike A, Illes E, Bors L, Feldmann A, Herold R, Illes Z (2010) Social cognition and Theory of Mind in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. Eur J Neurol 17:426–433PubMedCrossRef

15.

Giovagnoli AR, Franceschetti S, Reati F, Parente A, Maccagnano C, Villani F, Spreafico R (2011) Theory of mind in frontal and temporal lobe epilepsy: cognitive and neural aspects. Epilepsia 52:1995–2002PubMedCrossRef

16.

Broicher SD, Kuchukhidze G, Grunwald T, Krämer G, Kurthen M, Jokeit H (2012) “Tell me how do I feel”—emotion recognition and theory of mind in symptomatic mesial temporal lobe epilepsy. Neuropsychologia 50:118–128PubMedCrossRef

17.

Brüne M, Blank K, Witthaus H, Saft C (2011) “Theory of mind” is impaired in Huntington’s disease. Mov Disord 26:671–678PubMedCrossRef

18.

Snowden JS, Gibbons ZC, Blackshaw A, Doubleday E, Thompson J, Craufurd D, Foster J, Happé F, Neary D (2003) Social cognition in frontotemporal dementia and Huntington’s disease. Neuropsychologia 41:688–701PubMedCrossRef

19.

Santangelo G, Vitale C, Trojano L, Errico D, Amboni M, Barbarulo AM, Grossi D, Barone P (2012) Neuropsychological correlates of theory of mind in patients with early Parkinson’s disease. Mov Disord 27:98–105PubMedCrossRef

20.

Yu RL, Wu RM, Chiu MJ, Tai CH, Lin CH, Hua MS (2012) Advanced theory of mind in patients at early stage of Parkinson’s disease. Parkinsonism Relat Disord 18:21–24PubMedCrossRef

21.

Tsuruya N, Kobayakawa M, Kawamura M (2011) Is “reading mind in the eyes” impaired in Parkinson’s disease? Parkinsonism Relat Disord 17:246–248PubMedCrossRef

22.

Roca M, Torralva T, Gleichgerrcht E, Chade A, Arévalo GG, Gershanik O, Manes F (2010) Impairments in social cognition in early medicated and unmedicated Parkinson disease. Cogn Behav Neurol 23:152–158PubMedCrossRef

23.

Péron J, Vicente S, Leray E, Drapier S, Drapier D, Cohen R, Biseul I, Rouaud T, Le Jeune F, Sauleau P, Vérin M (2009) Are dopaminergic pathways involved in theory of mind? A study in Parkinson’s disease. Neuropsychologia 47:406–414PubMedCrossRef

24.

Bodden ME, Mollenhauer B, Trenkwalder C, Cabanel N, Eggert KM, Unger MM, Oertel WH, Kessler J, Dodel R, Kalbe E (2010) Affective and cognitive Theory of Mind in patients with Parkinson’s disease. Parkinsonism Relat Disord 16:466–470PubMedCrossRef

25.

Mengelberg A, Siegert RJ (2003) Is theory-of-mind impaired in Parkinson’s disease? Cogn Neuropsychiatry 8:191–209PubMedCrossRef

26.

Saltzman J, Strauss E, Hunter M, Archibald S (2000) Theory of mind and executive functions in normal human aging and Parkinson’s disease. J Int Neuropsychol Soc 6:781–788PubMedCrossRef

27.

Bodden ME, Dodel R, Kalbe E (2010) Theory of mind in Parkinson’s disease and related basal ganglia disorders: a systematic review. Mov Disord 25:13–27PubMedCrossRef

28.

Freedman M, Stuss DT (2011) Theory of Mind in Parkinson’s disease. J Neurol Sci 310:225–227PubMedCrossRef

29.

Poletti M, Enrici I, Bonuccelli U, Adenzato M (2011) Theory of Mind in Parkinson’s disease. Behav Brain Res 219:342–350PubMedCrossRef

30.

Benito-León J, Louis ED, Bermejo-Pareja F; Neurological Disorders in Central Spain (NEDICES) Study Group (2006) Population-based case-control study of cognitive function in essential tremor. Neurology 66:69–74CrossRef

31.

Kim JS, Song IU, Shim YS, Park JW, Yoo JY, Kim YI, Lee KS (2009) Cognitive impairment in essential tremor without dementia. J Clin Neurol 5:81–84PubMedCrossRef

32.

Lacritz LH, Dewey R Jr, Giller C, Cullum CM (2002) Cognitive functioning in individuals with “benign” essential tremor. J Int Neuropsychol Soc 8:125–129PubMedCrossRef

33.

Gasparini M, Bonifati V, Fabrizio E, Fabbrini G, Brusa L, Lenzi GL, Meco G (2001) Frontal lobe dysfunction in essential tremor: a preliminary study. J Neurol 248:399–402PubMedCrossRef

34.

Higginson CI, Wheelock VL, Levine D, King DS, Pappas CT, Sigvardt KA (2008) Cognitive deficits in essential tremor consistent with frontosubcortical dysfunction. J Clin Exp Neuropsychol 30:760–765PubMedCrossRef

35.

Lombardi WJ, Woolston DJ, Roberts JW, Gross RE (2001) Cognitive deficits in patients with essential tremor. Neurology 57:785–790PubMedCrossRef

36.

Tröster AI, Woods SP, Fields JA, Lyons KE, Pahwa R, Higginson CI, Koller WC (2002) Neuropsychological deficits in essential tremor: an expression of cerebello-thalamo-cortical pathophysiology? Eur J Neurol 9:143–151PubMedCrossRef

37.

Passamonti L, Novellino F, Cerasa A, Chiriaco C, Rocca F, Matina MS, Fera F, Quattrone A (2011) Altered cortical-cerebellar circuits during verbal working memory in essential tremor. Brain 134:2274–2286PubMedCrossRef

38.

Levy R, Dubois B (2006) Apathy and the functional anatomy of the prefrontal cortex-basal ganglia circuits. Cereb Cortex 16:916–928PubMedCrossRef

39.

Deuschl G, Bain P, Brin M (1998) Consensus statement of the Movement Disorder Society on tremor. Ad Hoc Scientific Committee. Mov Disord 13:2–23PubMedCrossRef

40.

American Psychiatric Association (2000) Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, 4th edn, text revised. DSM-IV-TR. American Psychiatric Association, Washington, DC

41.

Folstein M, Folstein SE, McHugh PR (1975) Mini-mental state: a practical method for grading the cognitive state of patients for the clinicians. J Psychiatr Res 12:189–198PubMedCrossRef

42.

Measso G, Cavarzeran F, Zappala` G et al (1993) The mini-mental state examination: normative study of an Italian random sample. Dev Neuropsychol 9:77–85CrossRef

43.

Spinnler H, Tognoni G (1987) Italian standardization and classification of Neuropsychological tests. The Italian Group on the Neuropsychological Study of aging. Ital J Neurol Sci 8(Suppl 6):1–120

44.

Fahn S, Tolosa E, Marin C (1993) Clinical rating scale for tremor. In: Jankovic J, Tolosa E (eds) Parkinson’s disease and movement disorders, 2nd edn. Williams & Wilkins, Baltimore, pp 271–280

45.

Prior M, Marchi S, Sartori G (2003) Social cognition and behavior. A tool for assessment. Upsel Domenighini Editore, Padova

46.

Happè F (1994) An advanced test of theory of mind: understanding of story characters’ thoughts and feelings by able autistic, mentally handicapped and normal children and adults. J Autism Dev Disord 24:129–154PubMedCrossRef

47.

Blair RJ, Cipolotti L (2000) Impaired social response reversal. A case of ‘‘acquired sociopathy’’. Brain 123:1122–1141PubMedCrossRef

48.

Caltagirone C, Gainotti G, Masullo C, Miceli G (1979) Validity of some neuropsychological test in the assessment of mental deterioration. Acta Psychiatr Scand 60:50–56PubMedCrossRef

49.

Dubois B, Slachevsky A, Litvan I, Pillon B (2000) The FAB: frontal Assessment Battery at bedside. Neurology 55:1621–1626PubMedCrossRef

50.

Berg EA (1948) A simple objective test for measuring flexibility in thinking. J Gen Psychol 39:15–22PubMedCrossRef

51.

Laiacona M, Inzaghi MG, De Tanti A, Capitani E (2000) Wisconsin card sorting test: a new global score, with Italian norms, and its relation-ship with the Weigl sorting test. Neurol Sci 21:279–291PubMedCrossRef

52.

Alberici A, Geroldi C, Cotelli M et al (2007) The Frontal Behavioural Inventory (Italian Version) differentiates frontotemporal lobar degeneration variants from Alzheimer’s disease. Neurol Sci 28:80–86PubMedCrossRef

53.

Isella V, Appollonio I, Meregalli L, Melzi P, Iurlaro S, Frattola L (1998) Normative values of Italian version of tools to assess apathy and anedonia. Arch Psicol Neurol Psichiatr 59:356–375

54.

Ware JE, Sherbourne CD (1992) The MOS 36-item Short-Form health survey (SF-36): I. Conceptual framework and item selection. Med Care 30:473–483PubMedCrossRef

55.

Apolone G, Cifani S, Liberati MC, Mosconi P (1997) Questionnaire SF-36^®. Translation and validation of the Italian version: results from IQOLA study. Metodologia e Didattica Clinica 5:86–94

56.

Bermejo-Pareja F (2011) Essential tremor-a neurodegenerative disorder associated with cognitive defects? Nat Rev Neurol 7:273–282PubMedCrossRef

57.

Louis ED (2010) Essential tremor: evolving clinicopathological concepts in an era of intensive post-mortem enquiry. Lancet Neurol 9:613–622PubMedCrossRef

58.

Krienen FM, Buckner RL (2009) Segregated fronto-cerebellar circuits revealed by intrinsic functional connectivity. Cereb Cortex 19:2485–2497PubMedCrossRef

59.

Chen SH, Desmond JE (2005) Cerebrocerebellar networks during articulatory rehearsal and verbal working memory tasks. Neuroimage 24:332–338PubMedCrossRef

60.

Durisko C, Fiez JA (2010) Functional activation in the cerebellum during working memory and simple speech tasks. Cortex 46:896–906PubMedCrossRef

61.

Brune M, Brune-Cohrs U (2006) Theory of mind, evolution, ontogeny, brain mechanisms and psycho-pathology. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 30:437–455PubMedCrossRef

62.

Guedj E, Allali G, Goetz C et al (2008) Frontal Assessment Battery is a marker of dorsolateral and medial frontal functions: a SPECT study in frontotemporal dementia. J Neurol Sci 273:84–87PubMedCrossRef

63.

Schmahmann JD (2005) Cerebellar motor and cognitive functions. In: Freund HF, Jeannerod M, Hallet M, Leiguarda R (eds) Higher order motor disorder. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 105–122

64.

Bagepally BS, Bhatt MD, Chandran V, Saini J, Bharath RD, Vasudev M, Prasad C, Yadav R, Pal PK (2012) Decrease in cerebral and cerebellar gray matter in essential tremor: a voxel-based morphometric analysis under 3T MRI. J Neuroimaging 22:275–278PubMedCrossRef

65.

Cerasa A, Messina D, Nicoletti G, Novellino F, Lanza P, Condino F, Arabia G, Salsone M, Quattrone A (2009) Cerebellar atrophy in essential tremor using an automated segmentation method. AJNR Am J Neuroradiol 30:1240–1243PubMedCrossRef

66.

Quattrone A, Cerasa A, Messina D, Nicoletti G, Hagberg GE, Lemieux L, Novellino F, Lanza P, Arabia G, Salsone M (2008) Essential head tremor is associated with cerebellar vermis atrophy: a volumetric and voxel-based morphometry MR imaging study. AJNR Am J Neuroradiol 29:1692–1697PubMedCrossRef

Title: Cognitive and affective theory of mind in patients with essential tremor
Authors: Gabriella Santangelo
Luigi Trojano
Paolo Barone
Domenico Errico
Ilaria Improta
Valeria Agosti
Dario Grossi
Giuseppe Sorrentino
Carmine Vitale
Publication date: 01-02-2013
Publisher: Springer-Verlag
Published in: Journal of Neurology / Issue 2/2013
Print ISSN: 0340-5354
Electronic ISSN: 1432-1459
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00415-012-6668-2

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on medication adherence

Springer Medicine

Cognitive and affective theory of mind in patients with essential tremor

Abstract

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on medication adherence

Springer Medicine

Abstract

Please log in to get access to this content

Other articles of this Issue 2/2013

Valproate as a treatment for dopamine dysregulation syndrome (DDS) in Parkinson’s disease

Subjective cognitive-affective status following thalamic stroke

Malignant perivascular melanoma mimicking primary central nervous system vasculitis

Effects of dalfampridine on attacks in patients with episodic ataxia type 2: an observational study

Deep magnetic stimulation in a progressive supranuclear palsy patient with speech involvement

Antonio Scarpa (1752–1832)