Self-awareness and social understanding in behavioral frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer's disease
Official title: Study of the Links Between Self-awareness and Sociocognitive Processes in Neurodegenerative Diseases in People With Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration, Behavioral Variant and Alzheimer's Disease
Run by Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris · NCT07531732 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project sees if people with bvFTD or Alzheimer's can accurately judge their own emotion-recognition and social-cognitive performance using a computerized face-emotion task with confidence ratings.
Quick facts
| Study type | Observational |
|---|---|
| Ages | 50 Years to 80 Years |
| Sex | All |
| Enrollment | 34 (estimated) |
| Sponsor | Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris Academic / other |
| Locations | 1 site (Paris) |
| Status | Recruiting |
| Started | April 2026 |
| Main results expected | December 2027 |
| Study ends | December 2027 |
| Registry record updated | April 15, 2026 |
| Trial ID | NCT07531732 on ClinicalTrials.gov |
Is this trial a fit for you?
✓Likely a good fit
Adults aged 50–80 with a diagnosis of behavioral-variant frontotemporal dementia (Rascovsky 2011) or Alzheimer's disease with biomarker support (Jack 2018), MMSE ≥20, and sufficient French reading/writing ability are ideal candidates.
✕Probably not a fit
People with moderate-to-severe language impairment, other neurological disorders (e.g., Lewy body disease, vascular dementia, epilepsy), major psychiatric illness, uncorrected vision problems, or inability to perform computerized tasks are unlikely to benefit from participation.
A plain-English reading of the study's rules. Only the study team can confirm whether you qualify.
What this trial studies
This monocentric, non-interventional study enrolls 34 participants (17 with behavioral-variant FTD and 17 with Alzheimer's disease) aged 50–80 with MMSE ≥20. Participants complete two ~2-hour visits including a computerized facial emotion recognition task with trial-by-trial retrospective confidence judgments to compute metacognitive efficiency (Mratio), alongside tasks probing theory of mind, memory, and suggestibility. Secondary analyses compare prospective and global metacognitive judgments, task complexity and feedback effects, and relationships with anosognosia. The aim is to characterize how subjective self-awareness aligns with objective social-cognitive performance across diagnostic groups.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, the findings could help clinicians identify metacognitive deficits that harm social functioning and inform more targeted support or intervention strategies.
How similar studies have gone: Metacognitive methods using confidence ratings and indices like Mratio have been applied successfully in other cognitive and psychiatric populations and in some dementia work, but their use specifically on social-cognitive tasks comparing bvFTD and AD is relatively novel.
Who can join: the full rules
Show full inclusion / exclusion criteria
Inclusion Criteria: * Diagnosis of possible or probable behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia according to the Rascovsky 2011 criteria (DLFTvc group) OR * Diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease according to the Jack 2018 criteria, including biomarkers (MA group) * Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) ≥ 20 * Age: 50-80 years * Sufficient reading and writing proficiency in French to enable completion of the study procedures, in the investigator's opinion Exclusion Criteria: * Moderate to severe language disorders: Confrontation naming (DO 40 scale) ≤ 32 * Inability to perform computerized tasks according to the investigator's opinion * Other neurological disorders (including epilepsy, Lewy body disease, vascular dementia) * Psychiatric comorbidities (bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, current major depressive episode) * Uncorrected visual impairment
Where it's running
-
Cognitive Neurology Center, Lariboisière-Fernand Widal Hospital Group, APHP
Paris, France Recruiting
Study contacts
- Study coordinator: Emmanuel Cognat, MD PhD
- Email: emmanuel.cognat@aphp.fr
- Phone: +33 (0) 1 40 05 49 54
Similar studies
Other studies for the same condition or treatment. Recruiting studies are listed first.
-
Blood biomarker cohort for memory disorders in older adults
This observational cohort will collect blood samples and brain imaging data from adults 50+ with memory disorders and a small group of healthy young adults to help find biomarkers.
-
Tau changes after hip or knee replacement surgery
Researchers will see if brain tau changes after hip or knee surgery and whether these changes relate to inflammation and thinking abilities.
-
Low-Dose Whole-Brain Radiation Therapy With HeLaXON 1X in Mild Alzheimer's Dementia
This study will test whether a low-dose brain radiation treatment using HeLaXON helps people with mild Alzheimer's dementia improve or stabilize thinking and daily function.
-
Cervical lymphatic surgery to see if it helps people with mild Alzheimer’s
We’re testing a surgical approach in people with mild Alzheimer’s to see if creating alternative neck lymph drainage routes can affect brain biomarkers and daily function.
-
Transcranial random noise stimulation for behavioral and psychological symptoms in Alzheimer's disease
This trial tests whether high-frequency transcranial random noise stimulation can help people with early Alzheimer's disease who have BPSD, compared to a sham treatment.
-
Testing LY4405094 in healthy people and people with Alzheimer’s disease
This study tests LY4405094 to see if it is safe and how it behaves in the body, including how it reaches the brain fluid in healthy participants and how it affects a brain protein in people with Alzheimer's disease.
How to take part
- Review the eligibility criteria above with your treating physician.
- Check the official listing on ClinicalTrials.gov for the latest contact details and recruitment status.
- Contact the study coordinator or principal investigator to ask for pre-screening. Pre-screening is free and never obligates you to enroll.