UCLA Project on Social Relations in
Frontotemporal Dementia
The UCLA project on social relations in frontotemporal dementia (FTD) seeks to understand the problems that FTD patients have in their social relationships. Our team is composed of faculty, post-doctoral scholars, graduate students, and undergraduates from the Departments of Anthropology, Neurology, Applied Linguistics, Psychology, and Sociology. The team leaders are Alan Fiske (Professor of Anthropology) and Mario Mendez (Professor of Neurology, Director of the UCLA Frontotemporal Dementia & Neurobehavior Clinic, and Director of the Neurobehavior Unit for the Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System). Our research includes participant observation in families of FTD patients; video- and audio-recording of these families; ethnographic, time-sampling, and conversation analyses of data from these methods; behavioral and physiological measures in the laboratory using methods adapted from experimental social and cognitive psychology; and the development of an ethogram and a check list describing the behaviors characteristic of FTD.
Our goals are to understand the nature of the social dysfunctions that occur in FTD, together with the sources of the distress experienced by care givers and associates of FTD patients. We hope that our work will facilitate the currently difficult diagnosis of FTD, and will provide a better basis for measuring the severity of FTD so that treatments can be assessed. By understanding the relationship problems of FTD patients, we also hope to illuminate the motivations and emotions that enable other people to create and sustain meaningful, mutual rewarding social relationships.
Our work is presently supported by the UCLA Academic Senate and the Association for Frontotemporal Dementia.
Researchers
Anthropology
Alan Page Fiske,
PhD Professor and Director of the
Project afiske@ucla.edu
Matthew Gervais graduate
student
Jessica Henderson graduate
student
Laura Loriga post-graduate
intern
Neurology
Mario Mendez, MD, PhD Professor and Co-Director of the Project, Director of the UCLA Frontotemporal Dementia & Neurobehavior Clinic, and Director of the Neurobehavior Unit for the Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System mmendez@ucla.edu
Applied Linguistics
John Schumann, PhD Professor
Netta Avineri, MA graduate
student
Brian Ellis, MA graduate
student
Andrea Mates, MA graduate
student
Lisa Mikesell, MA graduate
student
Sam Torrisi, MA researcher
Social Psychology
Sabrina Pagano, PhD Faculty
Fellow
Brett Erzinger, BA autism
treatment specialist
Vivian Chung undergraduate
RA
Felix Danbold undergraduate
RA
Sociology
John Heritage, PhD Professor
Clinical
resources
UCLA Frontotemporal Dementia and Neurobehavior Clinic
Jill Shapira, RN, PhD: 310 794-2550
Mario Mendez, MD, PhD: 310 478-3711, ext. 42696 (VA Neurobehavior Unit)
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke web page on FTD