Publications by authors named "Sulakshana Rao"
Article Synopsis
- The Brixton Spatial Anticipation Test assesses executive functions like rule abstraction and switching, with limited research on its use for distinguishing neurodegenerative disorders affecting the frontal lobes, particularly bvFTD and semantic dementia (SD).
- In a study of 76 bvFTD patients and 34 SD patients, bvFTD patients significantly underperformed on the Brixton test, with 53% scoring poorly compared to only 6% of SD patients.
- The results highlight that bvFTD patients struggle with rule acquisition and switching, exhibiting more perseverative errors, while the analysis supports the idea that semantic knowledge and rule learning are functionally distinct processes.
Episodic memory recall processes in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) can be similarly impaired, whereas recognition performance is more variable. A potential reason for this variability could be false-positive errors made on recognition trials and whether these errors are due to amnesia per se or a general over-endorsement of recognition items regardless of memory. The current study addressed this issue by analysing recognition performance on the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) in 39 bvFTD, 77 AD and 61 control participants from two centers (India, Australia), as well as disinhibition assessed using the Hayling test.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The International Consortium (FTDC) that revised the diagnostic criteria for behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) did not have an Asian representation. Whether the revised criteria are equally useful in the early detection of Asian bvFTD patients therefore remains largely unexplored. Earlier studies have indicated differences in clinical manifestations in Indian and other Asian bvFTD patients when compared to western groups.
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