Frontotemporal Dementia was first described over 100 years ago by Arnold Pick and is often referred to as Pick's disease. It is a cause of dementia which is in some ways similar to Alzheimer's disease involving a progressive decline in a person's mental powers over a number of years.Both are what we call neurodegenerative disorders but because different regions of the brain are affected the symptom profile in FTD and Alzheimer's disease are distinct, at least in the early stages.
The members of the frontotemporal dementia group (FRONTIER) are investigating the cognitive, behavioural, psychological, and brain changes associated with frontotemporal dementia and the impact on patients and their families. We are also studying how changes in FTD differ from those seen in other progressive neurodegenerative brain disorders, and in healthy ageing.
Our group conducted one of the first comprehensive descriptions of semantic dementia (1992), one of the principal forms of FTD. In further studies of semantic dementia we have discovered a specific reading deficit which has been important for theories related to how the brain processes spoken and written words, while our studies of object usage helped to understand the organisation of knowledge in the brain. More recently our work in FTD has been showing deficits in emotion processing, decision-making and Theory of Mind, which have been a crucial first step in understanding the emotional and behavioural disturbances in FTD.
Patient centered investigations
Emotion Processing and Autobiographical Memory
Investigations into emotion and memory processes in FTD
Brain Imaging
Investigations of structural brain changes in FTD
Severity Rating Scalese
Investigations into how FTD symptoms change over time
Neuropathology
Investigations into the cellular changed of FTD
Biomarker Identification
Identification of early FTD symptoms
Genetics
Investigations into the genetic hereditary of FTD
Cognition in Motor Neurone Disease (MND)
Investigations into a disease closely related to FTD
Caregiver centered investigations
Caregiver Burden
Investigations into how the burden on caregivers can be reduced
Coping with everyday life disabilities
Development of strategies to cope better with everyday life disabilities