Is emotional attention a behavioral marker of amygdala alterations in alzheimer’s disease ?

Jessica Bourgin (1) , Laetitia Silvert (2) , Émilie Cousin (1) , Cédric Pichat (1) , Olivier Moreaud (1, 3) , Mathilde Sauvée (1, 3) , Pascal Hot (1, 4)

1 LPNC - Laboratoire de Psychologie et NeuroCognition
2 LAPSCO - Laboratoire de Psychologie Sociale et Cognitive
3 CMRR - Centre Mémoire de Ressources et de Recherche [Grenoble]
4 IUF - Institut universitaire de France

The amygdala, a limbic area crucial in potentiating emotional processing, is atrophied early in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Yet, the consequences of amygdala alterations on the processing of emotional information in patients with AD are still scarcely investigated. Recent behavioral and neuroimaging data suggest that emotional attention may be a promising way of investigation. In this study, we were interested in assessing the link between amygdala structural and functional alterations and automatic emotional attention toward salient features of faces. Based on previous reports in patients with amygdala lesions, we also investigated the existence of compensatory processes relying on frontal networks and allowing the preservation of more controlled emotional attention mechanisms. Preliminary results will be discussed.

Domaines: Psychologie

Jessica Bourgin, Laetitia Silvert, Émilie Cousin, Cédric Pichat, Olivier Moreaud, et al.. Is emotional attention a behavioral marker of amygdala alterations in alzheimer’s disease ?. 21st Conference of the European Society for Cognitive Psychology (ESCoP 2019), Sep 2019, Tenerife, Spain. ⟨hal-03002348⟩