Grasping Social Apathy: The Role of Reach-To-Grasp Action Kinematics for the Assessment of Social Apathy in Mild Neurocognitive Disorders

Background: Social apathy, a reduction in initiative proposing or engaging social activities interactions, is common mild neurocognitive disorders (MND). Current apathy assessment relies on self-reports clinical scales, but growing attention devoted to defining more objective, measurable and non-invasive proxies. Objective: In the present study we investigated interest of recording action kinematics reach-to-grasp task for apathy. Methods: Thirty participants took part study: 11 healthy controls (HC; 6 females, mean age = 68.3±10.5 years) 19 subjects with MND (13 75.7±6.3 years). Based Diagnostic Criteria Apathy, were classified as socially apathetic (A-MND, N 9) versus non-apathetic (NA-MND, 10). SensRing, ring-shaped wearable sensor, was placed their index finger, asked reach grasp can place it into cup (individual condition) pass partner (social condition). Results: phase action, HC NA-MND showed different acceleration velocity profiles individual condition. No differences found A-MND. Conclusion: Previous studies patients’ level weekly motor activity assessment. Here that 10-min may provide information differentiate MND, thus providing tool easily usable practice. Future bigger sample are needed better characterize these findings.