Session Information
Date: Wednesday, September 25, 2019
Session Title: Non-Motor Symptoms
Session Time: 1:15pm-2:45pm
Location: Agora 3 West, Level 3
Objective: To study the social cognition in patients with PD and compare it with normal controls
Background: Patients with PD have difficulty expressing emotion which manifests as hypomimia. This has been attributed to slowness of facial muscles. However we hypothesise that patients with PD have difficulty recognising emotions as well and this might impair their expression of the same. To test this we study the social cognition in patients with PD and compared it with controls
Method: 75 patients with PD and 1792 controls across different ages and educational levels in India were evaluated using a Faces Test for ability to recognise emotions in facial expressions. The data was collated and the results were compared
Results: Patients with PD were found to have significantly lower scores for both basic and complex emotions, when compared to healthy controls. In controls the scores were significantly higher in women. However this difference was absent in patients with PD. The stage and duration of disease did not have an effect on the score. Education level had an effect on the score in patients with PD while age did not have an effect. Patients with PD performed significantly worse on recognition of complex emotion compared to basic emotion.
Conclusion: Impaired social cognition is a definite non-motor symptom of PD and could offer an alternative explanation regarding the mechanism of hypomimia in PD. The degree of involvement does not parallel the progression of motor symptoms of PD
References: 1. Baron-Cohen S, Wheelwright S, Jolliffe a. Is There a “Language of the Eyes”? Evidence from Normal Adults, and Adults with Autism or Asperger Syndrome. Visual Cognition. 1997;4(3):311-331. 2. Roca M, Torralva T, Gleichgerrcht E, Chade A, Arévalo G, Gershanik O et al. Impairments in Social Cognition in Early Medicated and Unmedicated Parkinson Disease. Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology. 2010;23(3):152-158. 3. Palmeri R, Lo Buono V, Corallo F, Foti M, Di Lorenzo G, Bramanti P et al. Nonmotor Symptoms in Parkinson Disease: A Descriptive Review on Social Cognition Ability. Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry and Neurology. 2017;30(2):109-121. 4. Péron J, Vicente S, Leray E, Drapier S, Drapier D, Cohen R et al. Are dopaminergic pathways involved in theory of mind? A study in Parkinson’s disease. Neuropsychologia. 2009;47(2):406-414.
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
S. Meenakshisundaram, LN. Ranganathan. A Study of Social Cognition in Parkinson’s Disease [abstract]. Mov Disord. 2019; 34 (suppl 2). https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/a-study-of-social-cognition-in-parkinsons-disease/. Accessed May 16, 2025.« Back to 2019 International Congress
MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/a-study-of-social-cognition-in-parkinsons-disease/