Bahaaeddin Attaallah

Abstract Apathy is a highly prevalent and disabling neuropsychiatric syndrome, but its multi-dimensional structure is a challenge for progress towards better identification and treatment. A crucial unresolved question is whether social disengagement reflects a distinct deficit in social motivation or a by-product of diminished initiative or emotional blunting.

Abstract The differential impact on working memory (WM) performance of distractors presented at encoding or during maintenance was investigated in Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), Parkinson’s Disease (PD) patients, elderly (EHC) and young healthy controls (YHC), (n = 28 per group). Participants reported the orientation of an arrow from a set of either two or three items, with a distractor present either at encoding or at maintenance. MRI data with hippocampal volumes was also acquired.

1 INTRODUCTION Apathy (ie, diminished goal-directed behavior) is a prominent feature in several neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD), and small vessel disease (SVD).1 It burdens patients and caregivers and is a marker of disease progression in some disorders.2, 3 In AD, up to 80% of patients develop apathy, even at early stages, making it a valuable preclinical marker.4 However, it remains poorly understood in AD, with limited behavioral...