Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior
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Apathy is the most prevalent and disabling non-cognitive symptom of dementia and affects 90% of patients across the disease course. Despite its pervasiveness, how apathy manifests across dementia syndromes and the neurobiological mechanisms driving these symptoms are poorly understood. Here, we applied the multidimensional ABC model of apathy, which recognizes Affective, Behavioural and Cognitive apathy, in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and behavioural-variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD). ⋯ Our results support the notion that apathy is multidimensional and manifests differently across dementia syndromes. Thus, novel interventions which target these divergent mechanisms will be necessary to improve motivation and goal-directed behaviour in people with dementia.
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It has been proposed that awareness may depend on the highly-dynamic functional connectivity of large-scale cortico-thalamo-cortical networks. We investigated how brain connectivity changes over time in the resting state in a group of patients with chronic disorders of consciousness (DoC). To this end, we assessed dynamic functional connectivity (DFC) in the resting state by analyzing the time-dependent EEG phase synchronization in five frequency bands (δ, θ, α, β, and γ). ⋯ The degree of DFC significantly correlated with the level of behavioral responsiveness measured using the Coma Recovery Scale-Revised. The analysis of DFC seems promising to differentiate patients with DoC. Moreover, sharpening the current knowledge of DFC by using EEG-based approaches may shed light on the processes of consciousness and their pathophysiology, and may help to design neuromodulation protocols aimed at targeting maladaptive and dysfunctional FC.