Impairment of vocal expression of negative emotions in patients with Alzheimer's disease

Kyung-Hun Han; Yuliya Zaytseva; Yan Bao; Ernst Pöppel; Sun Yong Chung; Jong Woo Kim; Hyun Taek Kim

doi:10.3389/fnagi.2014.00101

Impairment of vocal expression of negative emotions in patients with Alzheimer's disease

Front Aging Neurosci. 2014 May 26:6:101. doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2014.00101. eCollection 2014.

Authors

Kyung-Hun Han¹, Yuliya Zaytseva², Yan Bao³, Ernst Pöppel³, Sun Yong Chung⁴, Jong Woo Kim⁴, Hyun Taek Kim⁵

Affiliations

¹ Behavioral Science Research Center, Korea University , Seoul , South Korea ; Human Science Center, Institute of Medical Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität , Munich , Germany.
² Human Science Center, Institute of Medical Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität , Munich , Germany ; Parmenides Center for Art and Science , Pullach im Isartal , Germany ; Moscow Research Institute of Psychiatry , Moscow , Russia ; Prague Psychiatric Center, 3rd Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in Prague , Prague , Czech Republic.
³ Human Science Center, Institute of Medical Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität , Munich , Germany ; Parmenides Center for Art and Science , Pullach im Isartal , Germany ; Key Laboratory of Machine Perception, Department of Psychology, Peking University , Peking , China.
⁴ Department of Oriental Neuropsychiatry, Medical College, KyungHee University , Seoul , South Korea.
⁵ Human Science Center, Institute of Medical Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität , Munich , Germany ; Department of Psychology, Korea University , Seoul , South Korea.

Abstract

Vocal expression of emotions (EE) in retrieval of events from autobiographical memory was investigated in patients in early stages of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Twenty-one AD patients and 19 controls were interviewed, and EE of the reported memories was rated by 8 independent evaluators. The AD group had lower EE of both recent and remote memory than controls, although EE in remote memories was better preserved in both groups. We observed positive correlations between EE and indicators of cognitive competence in AD patients. AD Patients are impaired in the ability to express emotions already at early stages of the disease, and EE seems to deteriorate along with the progression of cognitive impairment.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; autobiographical memory; emotional expression; episodic memory; vocal expression.