Dr Stephanie Wong | A new framework for conceptualizing symptoms in frontotemporal dementia: From animal models to the clinic

Guest Lecture

  • Date: Jul 23, 2018
  • Time: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM (Local Time Germany)
  • Speaker: Dr Stephanie Wong
  • School of Psychology and Brain and Mind Centre, University of Sydney, Australia ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Sydney, Australia
  • Location: MPI for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences
  • Room: Wilhelm Wundt Room (A400)
  • Host: Department of Neurology
Behavioural-variant frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is the second leading cause of younger-onset dementia. Unlike Alzheimer’s disease, which is characterised by memory impairment, patients with behavioural-variant FTD present with marked changes in personality and behaviour. Until now, these clinical features have largely been considered independently. This is unsurprising, as symptoms such as increased preference for sweet foods, reduced empathy towards family members and stereotypical/ritualistic behaviour seem diverse and unrelated. Consequently, research into the symptoms of behavioural-variant frontotemporal dementia has lacked an integrated conceptual framework, despite sharing commonalities in the pattern of frontostriatal-insular brain regions involved.

In this talk, I will bring together evidence from animal studies, functional neuroimaging, and behavioural neurology to provide support for a new way of conceptualising the behavioural changes in behavioural-variant FTD as due to a disturbance in the capacity for goal-directed behaviour and a concomitant emergence of habits. By drawing parallels between animal and clinical research, this translational approach has important implications for the development and evaluation of novel therapeutic treatments, from animal models through to behavioural interventions and clinical trials in humans.
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