Links Between Self-awareness and Sociocognitive Processes in Neurodegenerative Diseases

Sponsor
Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris
Study ID
NCT07531732
Status
Recruiting
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Conditions

Eligibility Criteria

Sex
ALL
Age
50 Years - 80 Years
Healthy Volunteers
Not accepted

Interventions

  • Computer-based facial expression recognition task — BEHAVIORAL
    Eighteen facial photographs from the FACES database (Ebner et al., 2010) were selected, each depicting one of six emotions: joy, sadness, disgust, fear, anger, and neutral. For each face, the patient must identify the emotion being expressed by choosing from six verbal labels displayed on the screen.
  • Computerized affective task — BEHAVIORAL
    The task consists of 32 silent black-and-white videos featuring two characters interacting in a social situation, adapted from the Pierre and Marie task (Caillaud et al., 2020). Each video lasts between 8 and 9 seconds and shows one of the two characters experiencing a specific emotion. Patients will be asked to infer the emotion felt by that character. The emotions depicted are either positive or negative and vary in complexity: embarrassment, pride, anger, and surprise (8 videos for each emotion). After each video, the name of an emotion will appear on the screen, and patients will be asked to indicate whether the displayed emotion matches the one felt by the protagonist (half of the options will be congruent and the other half incongruent). The measured variable will be the rate of correct responses.
  • UCLA Structured Insight Interview — BEHAVIORAL
    The UCLA Structured Insight Interview (Mendez \& Shapira, 2011), translated into French, will be used to quantify anosognosia. This is a structured interview, conducted by the investigator, designed to assess patients' awareness of their symptoms in cases of neurodegenerative disease.
  • Barber's Standardized Suggestibility Scale — BEHAVIORAL
    The participant, who must keep their eyes closed throughout the administration of the scale, receives a standardized series of suggestions read aloud by the experimenter in a specific order. These suggestions pertain to motor, sensory, verbal, and mnemonic responses (lowering or raising the arm, clenching the hands, feeling thirsty, speech inhibition, immobility, post-hypnotic response, and amnesia).The scale consists of 8 items and is therefore scored on a scale of 0 to 8 : minimum score 0/8 = no suggestibility; maximum score 8/8 = maximum suggestibility.

Study Details

This monocentric, non-interventional study (SELFSOC) investigates the relationship between self-awareness and social cognition in patients with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) and Alzheimer's disease (AD). The primary objective is to assess metacognitive efficiency related to social cognitive performance using a computerized facial emotion recognition task combined with confidence judgments. Metacognitive indices (including Mratio) will quantify the correspondence between subjective and objective performance. Thirty-four participants (17 bvFTD, 17 AD; age 50-80; MMSE ≥20) will complete two study visits involving tasks assessing emotion recognition, theory of mind, and memory.

Key Dates

First listed
Apr 15, 2026
Start date
Apr 30, 2026
Status verified
Apr 2026
Primary completion
Dec 31, 2027
Completion
Dec 31, 2027

Study Design

Enrollment
34 participants (estimated)

Arms

  • Arm: Behavioral Variant Frontotemporal Dementia (bvFTD)
    Participants diagnosed with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia according to established clinical criteria (Rascovsky et al., 2011). Patients are aged 50-80 years with mild to moderate disease severity (MMSE ≥20).
  • Arm: Alzheimer's Disease (AD)
    Participants diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease based on biomarker-supported criteria (A+T+; Jack et al., 2018). Patients are aged 50-80 years with mild to moderate disease severity (MMSE ≥20).

Primary Outcome Measure

Metacognitive efficiency during facial emotion recognition (Mratio) [ Time Frame: Day 0 ]

Central Contacts

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