Facial Expression Recognition and Mirror Neurons in Parkinson's Disease

After few years of evolution, patients with Parkinson's disease may develop apathy, with different degrees of severity. Apathy is characterized by a loss of interest for the others and for activities. The lack of social interactions in these patients may be due to an impairment in decoding emotional facial expression. Indeed, facial expression recognition, which is necessary to understand other's emotional state, requires a subclinical facial mimicking of the expression observed. Yet, one of the clinical signs of PD is amimia. This study aims to determinate if there is a facial mimicry disorder in PD ( Parkinson's disease )patients with emotional facial expression (EFE) recognition impairment, compared to healthy control subjects. We also want to know if this facial mimicry disorder is primary (subtended by facial mobility impairment, that is to say amimia) or secondary (related to the mirror neuron systems that allows us to activate similar neural networks when observing and feeling a specific emotion)