The mini-SEA (mini-Social cognition & Emotional Assessment) is a neuropsychological battery aiming to evaluate the impairment of the social and emotional cognition. Developed by Maxime Bertoux in 2012, the mini-SEA has been preferentially designed for the assessment, follow-up and diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases such as the

frontotemporal dementia Frontotemporal dementia (FTD), or frontotemporal degeneration disease, or frontotemporal neurocognitive disorder, encompasses several types of dementia involving the progressive degeneration of frontal and temporal lobes. FTDs broadly present a ...

, but is more generally designed to evaluate the integrity of the frontal lobes. __TOC__

Constituents of the mini-SEA

The estimation completion time for the mini-SEA is 30 minutes. The whole battery is composed from two subtests : (1) a reduced and modified version of the Faux-Pas test, assessing

Theory of Mind In psychology, theory of mind refers to the capacity to understand other people by ascribing mental states to them (that is, surmising what is happening in their mind). This includes the knowledge that others' mental states may be different fro ...

and (2) a facial emotions recognition test. Both tests are among the most sensitive and specific tests for the diagnosis of the

and accurately discriminate frontotemporal dementia patients from controls or patients with Alzheimer's disease.

Brain regions involved

The mini-SEA evaluates the

frontal lobes The frontal lobe is the largest of the four major lobes of the brain in mammals, and is located at the front of each cerebral hemisphere (in front of the parietal lobe and the temporal lobe). It is parted from the parietal lobe by a groove be ...

dysfunctions, in particular the rostral and dorsal median parts of the

prefrontal cortex In mammalian brain anatomy, the prefrontal cortex (PFC) covers the front part of the frontal lobe of the cerebral cortex. The PFC contains the Brodmann areas BA8, BA9, BA10, BA11, BA12, BA13, BA14, BA24, BA25, BA32, BA44, BA45, BA ...

. The mini-SEA is a simple and fast test to use in clinical practice.Harciarek M, Cosentino S. Language, executive function and social cognition in the diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia syndromes.

International Review of Psychiatry The ''International Review of Psychiatry'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed medical journal published by Taylor & Francis on behalf of the Institute of Psychiatry ( King's College London). The editors-in-chief are Dinesh Bhugra (Institute of Psychiat ...

, 2013. Vol. 25, No. 2, Pages 178-196. and is also presented as a useful clinical tool to assess the sequela of a frontal ataque fulminante or following

traumatic brain injury A traumatic brain injury (TBI), also known as an intracranial injury, is an injury to the brain caused by an external force. TBI can be classified based on severity (ranging from mild traumatic brain injury TBI/concussionto severe traumatic b ...

References

{{Neuropsychology tests Neuropsychological tests Psychiatric assessment