Emotional Communication Disorders in Cerebellar Disease

Completed

Conditions studied: Cerebellar Diseases

In brief

The cerebellum has been linked to cognitive and emotional functions and there is increasing evidence that damage to posterior portions of the cerebellum can result in frontal-executive, visuospatial, and verbal deficits, including dysprosodia, and affective changes including blunting of affect or disinhibited and inappropriate behavior. Based on preliminary clinical observations and tests performed in the investigator's clinic, disorders of emotional communication may also be associated with cerebellar dysfunction. Emotional communication includes the production and comprehension of facial and prosodic expressions and is critical to maintaining positive and supportive relationships. Deficits in emotional communication can have devastating effects on relationships and on quality of life for those affected. Although deficits in affect and prosody have been reported in association with posterior cerebellar disorders, there are currently no studies systematically investigating emotional communication in individuals with cerebellar dysfunction. It is known that the cerebellum has strong connections with the cerebral cortex, especially the frontal lobes, and that cortical damage from stroke or neurodegenerative disease can result in disorders of emotional communication. Impairments in the integrity of cerebellar-cerebral networks from cerebellar disease may produce similar deficits in emotional communication. The purpose of this study is to systematically investigate and describe deficits in emotional communication in a series of patients with cerebellar disease. Participants will be individuals diagnosed with posterior cerebellar degeneration or damage from a non-hemorrhagic infarction, and age-matched neurologically healthy controls. Assessment will include a battery of tests of neuropsychological function as well as tests of emotional communication. Comprehension of emotional facial and prosodic expressions will be assessed as well as production of emotional communication. The expected outcomes will be to identify and describe deficits in production and comprehension of emotional prosodic and facial expressions and to describe the relationship between deficits in emotional communication and cerebellar atrophy with magnetic resonance imaging imaging (MRI) using voxel based morphometry (VBM).

Key facts

Study ID

NCT02106819

Run by

University of Florida

People needed

56

Starts

2014-04-01

Expected to finish

2016-12-31

Last updated by the study team

2017-01-31

Who can join

Age: 18 and older, up to 90. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

You may qualify if…

• Men and women over the age of 18
• Individuals with cerebellar ataxia

You may not qualify if…

• Neurological signs reflecting major pathology in extrapyramidal, brainstem, cortical and visual systems
• Symptomatic cerebellar ataxia from alcohol, toxins, vitamin deficiency, and paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration
• Dementia
• Current symptoms of depression or severe anxiety
• Currently on any psychotropic medication other than anti-depressants or history of a psychosis
• Severe impairments of hearing or vision
• Reading level less than 10th grade and/or history of learning disability
• Chronic medical and neurological diseases other than cerebellar (e.g., cardiac failure, renal disease, hepatic failure, stroke)
• History of severe head trauma (e.g., coma for more than one hour)

Where it is running

• Department of Neurology, College of Medicine, University of Florida — Gainesville, Florida, United States

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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