Perception of Emotions on Happy/Sad Chimeric Faces in Alzheimer Disease: Relationship With Cognitive Functions

Abstract

Decoding of emotional facial expressions seems to be differently affected in relation to patients' neuropsychologic profile, as poor test performance closely correlated with nonverbal cognitive impairment. This emotion-discrimination disorder likely characterizes the behavior of a subset of AD patients with predominant right-hemisphere dysfunction. A preserved ability to process the emotional features of faces may have an important role in the management of demented patients, and suggests the use of nonverbal communication as an integrative/alternative system. The simple test used in our study may be a useful clinical tool to explore emotional behavior in demented subjects.