Feasibility of Movie-Watching Task to Assess Executive Dysfunction in Progressive Supranuclear Palsy
Poster No:
239
Submission Type:
Abstract Submission
Authors:
Iryna Vlasiuk1, Timothy Rittman1
Institutions:
1University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
First Author:
Co-Author:
Introduction:
Progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) is a rare neurodegenerative disorder characterized by motor impairment, executive dysfunction, and cognitive decline (Hoeglinger et al., 2017). Executive dysfunction, affecting over 60% of PSP patients (Brown et al., 2010), significantly reduces quality of life for both patients and caregivers (Rittman et al., 2017). These deficits include planning, working memory, and verbal fluency impairments, alongside difficulties in emotional and social cognition, particularly recognizing negative emotions (Ghosh et al., 2009). Functional neuroimaging has revealed widespread disruptions in brain connectivity within the Default Mode Network (DMN), Salience Network (SN), and cortico-subcortical pathways (Whitwell et al, 2011; Bharti et al., 2017; Gardner et al., 2013). Studying functional network changes using emotionally engaging movies (naturalistic stimuli) has been applied to studies of neurodevelopment in children. This approach may be suitable to assess executive function in older adults with neurodegenerative disease. However, there are significant differences between children and older adults, so in this study we assess the feasibility and acceptability of the approach, and consider which video stimuli are most appropriate in a PSP population.
Methods:
Fourteen participants diagnosed with probable or possible PSP (Hoeglinger et al., 2017) were recruited under the Prospective Evaluation of Parkinson's Plus and Related Disorders (PrEPPAReD) study. Participants underwent comprehensive clinical and neurological assessments targeting executive domains, including planning, working memory, verbal fluency, inhibitory control, and social cognition.
Functional MRI (fMRI) data were acquired using a 3T scanner with echo-planar imaging parameters: TR = 2s, TE = 30ms, 305 volumes, and voxel dimensions of 3×3×3.75mm. Participants viewed two sets of movie clips during task-based fMRI acquisition:
Set 1:" Inception" (3m 42s) + "Inscapes" (1m 35s)
Set 2: "The Flower" (3m) + "Inscapes" (1m 35s)
"Inception" - featured high cognitive load with complex verbal and social interactions, while "The Flower" depicted a simple visual narrative of a flower's lifecycle, evoking emotional engagement. "Inscapes" provided abstract, low-demand stimuli designed to maintain wakefulness and compliance. Each set included three 20-second rest periods: before, between, and after the clips. Nine participants viewed Set 1, and five viewed Set 2 (Fig. 1). Post-task, participants provided qualitative feedback regarding comprehension, emotional engagement, and overall clarity of the movies. Data was prepossessed for further analysis using FSL FEAT and FLIRT tools. Noise was removed with FSL MELODIC ICA.
Functional MRI (fMRI) data were acquired using a 3T scanner with echo-planar imaging parameters: TR = 2s, TE = 30ms, 305 volumes, and voxel dimensions of 3×3×3.75mm. Participants viewed two sets of movie clips during task-based fMRI acquisition:
Set 1:" Inception" (3m 42s) + "Inscapes" (1m 35s)
Set 2: "The Flower" (3m) + "Inscapes" (1m 35s)
"Inception" - featured high cognitive load with complex verbal and social interactions, while "The Flower" depicted a simple visual narrative of a flower's lifecycle, evoking emotional engagement. "Inscapes" provided abstract, low-demand stimuli designed to maintain wakefulness and compliance. Each set included three 20-second rest periods: before, between, and after the clips. Nine participants viewed Set 1, and five viewed Set 2 (Fig. 1). Post-task, participants provided qualitative feedback regarding comprehension, emotional engagement, and overall clarity of the movies. Data was prepossessed for further analysis using FSL FEAT and FLIRT tools. Noise was removed with FSL MELODIC ICA.
·Movie_tasks_naturalistic_condition_fMRI
Results:
Qualitative analysis of participant feedback revealed greater feasibility and acceptability for Set 2 ("The Flower" + "Inscapes") compared to Set 1 ("Inception" + "Inscapes"). Participants reported that "The Flower" was clear, emotionally engaging, and positive, facilitating a deeper connection to the content. In contrast, "Inception" was poorly understood, with participants struggling to follow the verbal narrative and complex scenes, further complicated by background noise and the fragmented nature of the excerpt.
Conclusions:
Simpler naturalistic movie-watching tasks with emotionally engaging content, such as The Flower, offer a feasible and ecologically valid approach to assess executive dysfunction in PSP. Such a simple video without words may also better accommodate a broader cohort of patients with varying language backgrounds. Our future studies will explore the association between functional connectivity changes and executive dysfunction in PSP in naturalistic conditions using a larger sample size and emotionally engaging movies.
Disorders of the Nervous System:
Neurodegenerative/ Late Life (eg. Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s) 1
Emotion, Motivation and Social Neuroscience:
Emotional Perception 2
Higher Cognitive Functions:
Executive Function, Cognitive Control and Decision Making
Keywords:
Cognition
Degenerative Disease
Emotions
Experimental Design
1|2Indicates the priority used for review
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