Feasibility Study of the Interest of Functional Neuroimaging in Assessing Decision-making Capacity of Older People With Neurocognitive Disorders

It is during aging of patients, especially those with polypathological disorders and in whom cognitive disorders appear, that the most complex and ethical questions arise. In this context, these patients are frequently referred to geriatric consultations or memory centres for a global assessment of their cognitive functions and life skills in order to optimize their care and anticipate their medical and medico-social future. The assessment of decision-making capacity is essential in this regard.

Nevertheless, there is no test that specifically explores this issue and, therefore, people's decision-making abilities may not be properly estimated and may prevent some patients from making decisions when they would be able to do so.

Thus, although the issue of decision-making has generally been explored from a neuropsychological perspective in many studies, there is no specific test or score for decision-making capacity, as it is a complex process. The question of decision-making capacity in complex situations is therefore addressed by a multiple analysis of many parameters, including different neuropsychological data, which are then synthesized by the clinician in a standardized geriatric assessment to get an idea, among other things, of the overall ability to make decisions.

Given the difficulty of this and the ethical and societal issue, the research question focuses on the contribution of neuroimaging technologies to the assessment of decision-making capacity.

In fact, several studies have explored the issue as part of the functional neuroimaging study. The investigators note, in particular: