The cognitive changes associated with degenerative diseases, such
as behavioural-variant frontotemporal dementia (bv-FTD), lead to a
progressive decline in the patient’s ability to perform activities of daily
living (ADL). In particular, Mioshi et al. (2007) analyzed which aspects
of ADL are most affected in bv-FTD patients. A unique pattern of deficits
for basic ADL emerged in terms of: initiation; planning and execution.
The authors concluded that bv-FTD has a devastating effect on ADL.
More recently, and in line with these findings, Lima-Silva et al. (2015),
showed that bv-FTD patients obtained lower scores for initiation and
planning/organisation through a direct and indirect assessment of
ADL. They underlined that functional changes in bv-FTD seem to be better
documented by indirect measures completed by caregivers. The
neural correlates of self-awareness for ADL were recently examined in
several neurodegenerative diseases (Shany-Ur et al., 2014), by calculating
the discrepancy between self- and informant ratings using the
patient competency rating scale, an instrument validated in studies
with traumatic injury patients (Prigatano and Altman, 1990). Patientsh