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Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and Huntington’s disease (HD) are degenerative disorders, with predominant involvement, respectively of frontal neocortex and striatum. Both conditions give rise to altered social conduct and breakdown in interpersonal relationships, although the factors underlying these changes remain poorly defined. The study used tests of theory of mind (interpretation of cartoons and stories and judgement of preference based on eye gaze) to explore the ability of patients with FTD and HD to interpret social situations and ascribe mental states to others. Performance in the FTD group was severely impaired on all tasks, regardless of whether the test condition required attribution of a mental state. The HD group showed a milder impairment in cartoon and story interpretation, and normal preference judgements. Qualitative differences in performance were demonstrated between groups. FTD …