Sarcasm Clue To Dementia

The Age

Friday December 12, 2008

By JULIA MEDEW

IT MIGHT be the lowest form of humour but sarcasm could be the key to diagnosing a common and debilitating form of dementia in young people.

University of NSW researchers have found that people with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) - the second most common form of dementia in people under 65 - cannot detect sarcasm and are more gullible than other people.

Researcher John Hodges, who is based at the Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute, said when 26 people with FTD were asked to judge performances by actors behaving sincerely and sarcastically, most could not tell the difference.

"It shows people with FTD are very literal because the differences were all about tone of voice, mannerisms and subtle social cues," Professor Hodges said. "When we tried this on 19 people with Alzheimer's disease, they had no trouble with it, so this could be very helpful in diagnosing the condition."

Researchers believe about 5000 people have FTD but are often misdiagnosed with personality disorders or not diagnosed at all.

He said people experiencing the onset of FTD were often dismissed as strange or ostracised because it led to sexual disinhibition, rudeness and a lack of empathy.

The study, published in the journal Brain, also showed that people with FTD could not read negative emotions.

© 2008 The Age

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