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Our ability to express ourselves and understand others is central to our day-to-day lives. In frontotemporal dementia that ability can be lost slowly over time whilst memory and other parts of thinking remain unaffected. Join us to explore how the brain processes speech and language, how loss of brain cells in this form of dementia leads to those processes becoming impaired, and the impact on peoples’ lives of gradually becoming ‘speechless’.
Language - how it develops, and how we lose it
Dr Jonathan Rohrer
(MRC Clinician Scientist, Honorary Consultant Neurologist at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery)
Dr Jonathan Rohrer is a clinician scientist investigating frontotemporal dementia (FTD) at the Dementia Research Centre, UCL. Jonathan will explain what this rare form of dementia looks like and explore the complexity of language loss in FTD.
Losing speech - developing language impairment in frontotemporal dementia
Rhian Convery
(Research Assistant)
Rhian is a psychological research assistant at the Dementia Research Centre, UCL. Rhian will discuss the thinking skills affected by FTD, focusing on language changes - some people with FTD lose the meaning of words, while others lose speech entirely.
The anatomy of progressive language problems
Mollie Neason
(Research assistant)
Mollie is a neuroimaging research assistant at the Dementia Research Centre, UCL, who uses brain imaging to look at physical changes in the brain. Mollie will explore the loss of brain cells in FTD in areas important for language, and how these brain changes lead to impaired language in FTD.
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