Scientists Discover Brain Region Implicated in Emotional 'Color' in Dementia Patients

Dementia patients have to face a variety of hurdles with their condition. Now, new research has shown something else that they must overcome. Scientists have discovered that patients with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) lose the emotional context, otherwise known as the color, of their memories. The new findings could have large implications for the future study of this condition.

Most people can remember events infused with emotion--like birthday parties. Yet patients with FTD, a degenerative condition that affects the front and temporal lobes of the brain, have difficulty understanding and expressing emotion. Yet the extent to which these deficits weaken emotional enhancement of memory have remained unknown.

"Imagine if you attended the wedding of your daughter, or met your grandchild for the first time, but this event was as memorable as doing the groceries," said Fiona Kumfor, one of the researchers, in a news release.

In order to find out exactly how memory and emotions might be affected, researchers examined patients suffering from FTD.  They showed the participants images that prompt an emotional reaction in healthy people. While healthy control subjects and patients with Alzheimer's remembered more emotional than neutral images, the FTD patients did not.

"Up until now, we knew that emotional memories were supported by the amygdala, a brain region also involved with emotion regulation. This study is the first to demonstrate the involvement of the orbitofrontal cortex in this process," said Olivier Piguet, one of the researchers, in a news release. "This is an important development in how we understand the relations between emotions and memory and the disturbance of the emotional system in this type of dementia."

The findings may help caregivers better understand why their loved ones may find personal interactions difficult. In addition, the information could help create diagnostic tools and change how doctors diagnose certain types of dementias and differentiate between them.

The findings are published in the journal Brain.