Evidence of an Inferior Total-Order Planning Strategy in Patients with Frontotemporal Dementia

Abstract

We investigated planning abilities in patients with frontal temporal dementia (FTD) and normal controls (NC) using a chore location planning task. Planning tasks with increasing complexity could be either solved by constructing a linear total plan (total-order planning) or partially ordered sub-plans (partial-order planning). The NC group appeared to use partial-order planning, while the FTD group appeared to use total-order planning based on error pattern in performance, task-solution, and planning time. Our results are a reminder that besides social impairments, FTD patients also demonstrate higher-order cognitive impairment in domains such as planning and that these impairments may also have a profound effect upon the patients' day-to-day functioning.

Keywords:

• Prefrontal cortex
• Planning
• Chores
• Artificial intelligence
• Partial-order

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Intramural Research Program of the NIH/NINDS/CNS. We thank Dr Lee Spector for his advice and for providing us with the Chores software.