Emotion in neurodegenerative disease
Social and emotional changes are common yet poorly understood features of neurodegenerative disease. The primary diseases that we study are frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and Alzheimer's disease, diseases that target distinct neural networks. In FTD, behavioral changes are core symptoms and occur early in the disease course while in Alzheimer's disease, social functioning and emotion may be spared until the late stages of disease.
We currently have two NIH-funded projects that investigate how emotions and social behavior change in FTD (R01AG052496) and Alzheimer’s disease (R01AG057204). In these studies we use a laboratory-based approach to identify how alterations in emotion relate to neural network dysfunction and behavioral symptoms.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Socioemotional behavior in neurodevelopmental conditions
In collaboration with the UCSF Dyslexia Center, and UCSF Psychiatry Department, we are conducting a study of emotions in children with neurodevelopmental conditions. The current goal of these studies is to assess emotional functioning in dyslexia and autism spectrum disorders and to relate our laboratory measures of emotion to affective and behavioral symptoms.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________