Disentangling decision-making from language processing; the model of Huntington's disease

Huntington’s disease (HD) is a inherited neurodegenerative disease of the middle life due to striatum atrophy. HD patients show language impairments yet, the role of the striatum in language remains debated. Indeed, task assessing language require decision-making, which is impaired in HD. I studied HD to specify the role of the striatum in the interaction between language and decision-making, and to understand how compensatory mechanisms delay language deficits. I used brain structure analysis associated to models unravelling the cognitive processes underlying language and decision-making. I showed that even if the deficits observed in HD are mainly due to decision-making impairment, there is some specific involvement of the striatum in language processing. I showed that compensatory mechanisms rely on attention. Finally, I showed that modelling language in interaction with decision-making provides a potential biomarker, sensitive to cognitive decline and compensation.