Edinburgh Research Archive logo

Edinburgh Research Archive

University of Edinburgh homecrest
View Item 
  •   ERA Home
  • Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, School of
  • Psychology
  • Psychology Undergraduate thesis collection
  • View Item
  •   ERA Home
  • Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, School of
  • Psychology
  • Psychology Undergraduate thesis collection
  • View Item
  • Login
JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

Thinking and behaviour in motor neurone disease : a clinical neuropsychological investigation

View/Open
dunlop dissertation.pdf (491.7Kb)
Date
2007
Item status
Restricted Access
Author
Dunlop, Alan
Metadata
Show full item record
Abstract
Traditionally Motor Neurone Disease (MND) has been thought of as a syndrome exclusively affecting the motor regions of the cortex only. However, recent research has found evidence of extra-motor involvement in patients with the classical form of MND predominately on tests of executive dysfunction. This selective cognitive dysfunction found in classical MND patients, namely on tests of executive function and to a lesser extent on memory and language functions, has led to the hypothesis that MND is a spectrum disorder. It follows, that if ALS and MND-D are part of a continuum then evidence of subtle behavioural change characteristic of MND-D and FTD consistent with orbitofrontal dysfunction should be observed in the nondemented ALS patient group. The research aims of this study were therefore to investigate whether patients with non-demented ALS do in fact display subtle behavioural change associated with orbitofrontal dysfunction characteristic of frontotemporal dementia. A neuropsychological battery including tests of behavioural dysfunction was administered to 10 ALS patients and 10 healthy controls. The cares of each patient were also asked to complete three informant-based questionnaires in order to assess patients’ behavioural profile. Evidence was presented of subtle behavioural change in this patient group in the domains of apathy, disinhibition and executive dysfunction as well as evidence of behavioural features associated with the FTD diagnostic criteria set out by Neary and colleagues (1998). This evidence adds further weight to the hypothesis that ALS, MND-D and FTD form variants of a clinical pathological continuum. Further investigations are necessary to confirm theses findings, with the possible use of imaging techniques to provide evidence of cerebral abnormality in a similar patient group.
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/1842/2862
Collections
  • Psychology Undergraduate thesis collection

Library & University Collections HomeUniversity of Edinburgh Information Services Home
Privacy & Cookies | Takedown Policy | Accessibility | Contact
Privacy & Cookies
Takedown Policy
Accessibility
Contact
feed RSS Feeds

RSS Feed not available for this page

 

 

All of ERACommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsPublication TypeSponsorSupervisorsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsPublication TypeSponsorSupervisors
LoginRegister

Library & University Collections HomeUniversity of Edinburgh Information Services Home
Privacy & Cookies | Takedown Policy | Accessibility | Contact
Privacy & Cookies
Takedown Policy
Accessibility
Contact
feed RSS Feeds

RSS Feed not available for this page