Professor Olivier Piguet
People_

Professor Olivier Piguet

Phone
+61 2 9114 4144
Address
Professor Olivier Piguet

Prof Piguet is an NHMRC Leadership Fellow and Professor of Clinical Neuropsychology. He is the director of FRONTIER, the frontotemporal dementia clinical research group. He is President-Elect of the International Society for Frontotemporal Dementias (2023-2025) and Past-President of the Australasian Society for the Study of Brain Impairment (ASSBI) (2023-2025).

Prof Piguet trained in Geneva and Melbourne and completed his PhD at the University of Sydney, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at MIT. A registered clinical neuropsychologist, he has over 20 years clinical experience in the field of ageing and neurodegeneration.

Prof Piguet's research program is on frontotemporal dementia and related younger-onset dementia syndromes. His investigations aim to identify early clinical markers and to predict patterns of changes over time of these brain disorders, and how these changes relate to brain abnormalities.

He is particularly interested in the biological bases of social cognition, memory and executive function as well as on the impact of these disorders on informal carers (spouses, family members) and social networks.

Prof Piguet also investigates mechanisms of memory and their associated brain substrates in healthy individuals.

His research combines clinical, cognitive, neuroimaging, neurophysiological, genetic and postmortem investigation techniques. Prof Piguet has published > 290 peer-reviewed journal articles on these topics.

2021-2023:President- Australasian Society for the Study of Brain Impairment

2019-2021:President-elect- Australasian Society for the Study of Brain Impairment

2015-2019:Board Director– International Society for Frontotemporal Dementias

2013-current:Board-approved Supervisor- Psychology Board of Australia (Area of practice: Clinical neuropsychology)

2013-current:BoardDirector– Australian Fronto-Temporal Dementia Association

2013-current:Member– International Scientific Committee for the Institute of Cognitive Neurology (INECO) and the INECO Foundation, Buenos Aires, Argentina

2013-2019:Member -Australian Brain Donor Programs Scientific Advisory Committee


Clinical, Cognition, Neuroscience
Project titleResearch student
Improve diagnosis and prognosis accuracy of frontotemporal dementia using machine learning techniquesHenry DO
Doctor of Philosophy (Science)Pratiksha KUMAR
Behavioural Apathy: Investigating Neuroscientific Foundations and the Interplay of Volitional ControlJordan SIBLEY

Publications

Book Chapters

  • Piguet, O. (2021). Younger-Onset Dementias: Behavioral Neurology/Brain Diseases/Healthy & Pathological Aging. In Not known (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Behavioral Neuroscience: Second Edition, (pp. V3-88). TBC. [More Information]
  • Kumfor, F., Halliday, G., Piguet, O. (2017). Clinical aspects of Alzheimer's disease. In P Beart, M Robinson, M Rattray, N J Maragakis (Eds.), Neurodegenerative Diseases: Pathology, Mechanisms, and Potential Therapeutic Targets, (pp. 31-53). Cham: Springer. [More Information]
  • Piguet, O. (2017). Dementia and Social Neuroscience: Historical and Cultural Perspectives. In A Ibanez, L Sedeno, A M Garcia (Eds.), Neuroscience and Social Science: The Missing Link, (pp. 243-253). Cham: Springer. [More Information]

Journals

  • Santamaria-Garcia, H., Ibanez, A., Migeot, J., Medel, V., Hazelton, J., Teckentrup, V., Romero-Ortuno, R., Piguet, O., Lawor, B., Northoff, G. (2024). Allostatic Interoceptive Overload Across Psychiatric and Neurological Conditions. Biological Psychiatry. [More Information]
  • Callisaya, M., Piguet, O., Munroe, M., De Araújo, R., O'Bree, B., Srikanth, V. (2024). Associations between dual-task walking and cognitive impairment in people attending a cognitive diagnostic clinic. Australasian Journal on Ageing. [More Information]
  • Landin-Romero, R., Kumfor, F., YS Lee, A., Leyton, C., Piguet, O. (2024). Clinical and cortical trajectories in non-fluent primary progressive aphasia and Alzheimer's disease: A role for emotion processing. Brain Research, 1829, 148777. [More Information]

Conferences

  • Sirts,, K., Piguet, O., Johnson,, M. (2017). Idea density for predicting Alzheimer's disease from transcribed speech. CoNLL 2017 - 21st Conference on Computational Natural Language Learning, Proceedings, : SPIE.
  • Kumfor, F., Landin-Romero, R., Hazelton, J., Kaizik, C., Connaughton, E., Piguet, O., Hodges, J. (2017). Prevalence and neurobiological basis of delusions in dementia. World Congress of Neurology (WCN 2017), Online: Elsevier.
  • Piguet, O., Schubert, S., Leyton, C., Hodges, J. (2015). Contrasting longitudinal changes in cognition in alzheimer’s disease and behavioural-variant frontotemporal dementia. World Congress of Neurology, United Kingdom: Journal of the Neurological Sciences. [More Information]

2024

  • Santamaria-Garcia, H., Ibanez, A., Migeot, J., Medel, V., Hazelton, J., Teckentrup, V., Romero-Ortuno, R., Piguet, O., Lawor, B., Northoff, G. (2024). Allostatic Interoceptive Overload Across Psychiatric and Neurological Conditions. Biological Psychiatry. [More Information]
  • Callisaya, M., Piguet, O., Munroe, M., De Araújo, R., O'Bree, B., Srikanth, V. (2024). Associations between dual-task walking and cognitive impairment in people attending a cognitive diagnostic clinic. Australasian Journal on Ageing. [More Information]
  • Landin-Romero, R., Kumfor, F., YS Lee, A., Leyton, C., Piguet, O. (2024). Clinical and cortical trajectories in non-fluent primary progressive aphasia and Alzheimer's disease: A role for emotion processing. Brain Research, 1829, 148777. [More Information]

2023

  • Wei, G., Piguet, O., Kumfor, F. (2023). A Psychosocial Intervention for Carers of Individuals Diagnosed with Dementia in Social Isolation. Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders Extra, 13(1), 48-56. [More Information]
  • Wong, S., Wei, G., Husain, M., Hodges, J., Piguet, O., Irish, M., Kumfor, F. (2023). Altered reward processing underpins emotional apathy in dementia. Cognitive, Affective and Behavioral Neuroscience, 23(2), 354-370. [More Information]
  • Wong, S., Rawson, G., Dixon, A., Wei, G., Piguet, O., Kumfor, F. (2023). Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association. Alzheimer's and Dementia, 19, e078050. [More Information]

2022

  • Piguet, O. (2022). 2022 ASSBI PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. Reflections on language and primary progressive aphasias. Brain Impairment, 23(3), 337-343. [More Information]
  • Migeot, J., Duran-Aniotz, C., Signorelli, C., Piguet, O., Ibañez, A. (2022). A predictive coding framework of allostatic–interoceptive overload in frontotemporal dementia. Trends in Neurosciences, 45(11), 838-853. [More Information]
  • Eggins, P., Wong, S., Wei, G., Hodges, J., Husain, M., Piguet, O., Irish, M., Kumfor, F. (2022). A shared cognitive and neural basis underpinning cognitive apathy and planning in behavioural-variant frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer's disease. Cortex, 154, 241-253. [More Information]

2021

  • Piguet, O. (2021). 'Dazed and Confused!' Context and social disconnect in the time of pandemic. Brain Impairment, 22(3), 343-348. [More Information]
  • Long, Z., Irish, M., Hodges, J., Halliday, G., Piguet, O., Burrell, J. (2021). Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis features predict TDP-43 pathology in frontotemporal lobar degeneration. Neurobiology of Aging, 107, 11-20. [More Information]
  • Shaw, S., El-Omar, H., Ramanan, S., Piguet, O., Ahmed, R., Whitton, A., Irish, M. (2021). Anhedonia in semantic dementia—exploring right hemispheric contributions to the loss of pleasure. Brain Sciences, 11(8), 998. [More Information]

2020

  • Vivash, L., Malpas, C., Churilov, L., Walterfang, M., Brodtmann, A., Piguet, O., Ahmed, R., Bush, A., Hovens, C., Kalincik, T., et al (2020). A study protocol for a phase II randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of sodium selenate as a disease-modifying treatment for behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia. BMJ Open, 10(11), 1-8. [More Information]
  • Katzeff, J., Bright, F., Lo, K., Kril, J., Connolly, A., Crossett, B., Ittner, L., Kassiou, M., Loy, C., Hodges, J., Piguet, O., Kiernan, M., Halliday, G., Kim, W. (2020). Altered serum protein levels in frontotemporal dementia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis indicate calcium and immunity dysregulation. Scientific Reports, 10(1), 13741. [More Information]
  • Wong, S., Irish, M., Husain, M., Hodges, J., Piguet, O., Kumfor, F. (2020). Apathy and its impact on carer burden and psychological wellbeing in primary progressive aphasia. Journal of the Neurological Sciences, 416, 117007. [More Information]

2019

  • Long, Z., Irish, M., Piguet, O., Kiernan, M., Hodges, J., Burrell, J. (2019). Clinical and neuroimaging investigations of language disturbance in frontotemporal dementia-motor neuron disease patients. Journal of Neurology, 266(4), 921-933. [More Information]
  • Ke, Y., Chan, G., Stefanoska, K., Au, C., Bi, M., Muller, J., Przybyla, M., Feiten, A., Prikas, E., Halliday, G., Piguet, O., Kiernan, M., Kassiou, M., Hodges, J., Loy, C., Kril, J., Sutherland, G., et al (2019). CNS cell type-specific gene profiling of P301S tau transgenic mice identifies genes dysregulated by progressive tau accumulation. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 294(38), 14149-14162. [More Information]
  • Forrest, S., Crockford, D., Sizemova, A., McCann, H., Shepherd, C., McGeachie, A., Affleck, A., Carew-Jones, F., Bartley, L., Kwok, J., Kim, W., Jary, E., Tan, R., McGinley, C., Piguet, O., Hodges, J., Kril, J., Halliday, G. (2019). Coexisting Lewy body disease and clinical parkinsonism in frontotemporal lobar degeneration. Neurology, 92(21), e2472-e2482. [More Information]

2018

  • Zhang, M., Ferrari, R., Tartaglia, M., Keith, J., Surace, E., Wolf, U., Sato, C., Grinberg, M., Liang, Y., Dobson-Stone, C., Halliday, G., Hodges, J., Piguet, O., et al (2018). A C6orf10/LOC101929163 locus is associated with age of onset in C9orf72 carriers. Brain, 141(10), 2895-2907. [More Information]
  • So, M., Foxe, D., Kumfor, F., Murray, C., Hsieh, S., Savage, G., Ahmed, R., Burrell, J., Hodges, J., Irish, M., Piguet, O. (2018). Addenbrooke’s Cognitive Examination III: Psychometric Characteristics and Relations to Functional Ability in Dementia. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 24(8), 854-863. [More Information]
  • Kim, W., He, Y., Phan, K., Ahmed, R., Rye, K., Piguet, O., Hodges, J., Halliday, G. (2018). Altered high density lipoprotein composition in behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 12, 847. [More Information]

2017

  • Kumfor, F., Honan, C., McDonald, S., Hazelton, J., Hodges, J., Piguet, O. (2017). Assessing the "social brain" in dementia: Applying TASIT-S. Cortex, 93, 166-177. [More Information]
  • O'Connor, C., Landin-Romero, R., Clemson, L., Kaizik, C., Daveson, N., Hodges, J., Hsieh, S., Piguet, O., Mioshi, E. (2017). Behavioral-variant frontotemporal dementia: Distinct phenotypes with unique functional profiles. Neurology, 89(6), 570-577. [More Information]
  • Midorikawa, A., Kumfor, F., Leyton, C., Foxe, D., Landin-Romero, R., Hodges, J., Piguet, O. (2017). Characterisation of "Positive" Behaviours in Primary Progressive Aphasias. Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders, 44(3-4), 119-128. [More Information]

2016

  • Midorikawa, A., Leyton, C., Foxe, D., Landin-Romero, R., Hodges, J., Piguet, O. (2016). All is Not Lost: Positive Behaviors in Alzheimer's Disease and Behavioral-Variant Frontotemporal Dementia with Disease Severity. Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, 54(2), 549-558. [More Information]
  • Ahmed, R., Irish, M., Piguet, O., Halliday, G., Ittner, L., Farooqi, S., Hodges, J., Kiernan, M. (2016). Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal dementia: distinct and overlapping changes in eating behaviour and metabolism. The Lancet Neurology, 15(3), 332-342. [More Information]
  • Ahmed, R., Irish, M., Henning, E., Dermody, N., Bartley, L., Kiernan, M., Piguet, O., Farooqi, S., Hodges, J. (2016). Assessment of Eating Behavior Disturbance and Associated Neural Networks in Frontotemporal Dementia. JAMA Neurology, 73(3), 282-290. [More Information]

2015

  • Savage, S., Piguet, O., Hodges, J. (2015). "Knowing What You Don't Know": Language Insight in Semantic Dementia. Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, 46(1), 187-198. [More Information]
  • Chiu, I., Gforer, R., Piguet, O., Berres, M., Monsch, A., Sollberger, M. (2015). "Now i see it, now i don't": Determining Threshold Levels of Facial Emotion Recognition for Use in Patient Populations. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 21(7), 568-572. [More Information]
  • Taswell, C., Villemagne, V., Yates, P., Shimada, H., Leyton, C., Ballard, K., Piguet, O., Burrell, J., Hodges, J., Rowe, C. (2015). 18F-FDG PET Improves Diagnosis in Patients with Focal-Onset Dementias. Journal of Nuclear Medicine, 56(10), 1547-1553. [More Information]

2014

  • Tu, S., Miller, L., Piguet, O., Hornberger, M. (2014). Accelerated forgetting of contextual details due to focal medio-dorsal thalamic lesion. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 8, 1-9. [More Information]
  • Assareh, A., Piguet, O., Lye, T., Mather, K., Broe, G., Schofield, P., Sachdev, P., Kwok, J. (2014). Association of SORL1 gene variants with hippocampal and cerebral atrophy and Alzheimer's disease. Current Alzheimer Research, 11(6), 558-563. [More Information]
  • Tan, R., Wong, S., Kril, J., Piguet, O., Hornberger, M., Hodges, J., Halliday, G. (2014). Beyond the temporal pole: Limbic memory circuit in the semantic variant of primary progressive aphasia. Brain, 137(7), 2065-2076. [More Information]

2013

  • Leyton, C., Ballard, K., Piguet, O., Hodges, J. (2013). A specific clinical marker of logopenic aphasia. 41st Annual Tow Research Meeting, Sydney, Australia.
  • Irish, M., Kumfor, F., Hodges, J., Piguet, O. (2013). A tale of two hemispheres: Contrasting socioemotional dysfunction in right- versus left-lateralised semantic dementia [Um Conto Sobre Dois Hemisferios: Contrastando A Disfuncao Socioemocional Na Demencia Semantica Com Atrofia Lateralizada A Direita Versus Esquerda]. Dementia e Neuropsychologia, 7(1), 88-95. [More Information]
  • Piguet, O., Hodges, J. (2013). Behavioural-variant frontotemporal dementia: An update [Demencia Frontotemporal-Variante Comportamental: Uma Revisao]. Dementia e Neuropsychologia, 7(1), 10-18. [More Information]

2012

  • Hsieh, S., Hornberger, M., Piguet, O., Hodges, J. (2012). Brain correlates of musical and facial emotion recognition: Evidence from the dementias. Neuropsychologia, 50(8), 1814-1822. [More Information]
  • Brown, R., Duma, S., Piguet, O., Broe, G., Macefield, V. (2012). Cardiovascular variability in Parkinson's disease and extrapyramidal motor slowing. Clinical Autonomic Research, 22(4), 191-196. [More Information]
  • Irish, M., Addis, D., Hodges, J., Piguet, O. (2012). Considering the role of semantic memory in episodic future thinking: Evidence from semantic dementia. Brain, 135(7), 2178-2191. [More Information]

2011

  • Kumfor, F., Miller, L., Lah, S., Hsieh, S., Savage, S., Hodges, J., Piguet, O. (2011). Are you really angry? The effect of intensity on facial emotion recognition in frontotemporal dementia. Social Neuroscience, 6(5-6), 502-514. [More Information]
  • Piguet, O., Hornberger, M., Mioshi, E., Hodges, J. (2011). Behavioural-variant frontotemporal dementia: Diagnosis, clinical staging, and management. The Lancet Neurology, 10(2), 162-172. [More Information]
  • Piguet, O., Halliday, G., Reid, W., Casey, B., Carman, R., Huang, Y., Xuereb, J., Hodges, J., Kril, J. (2011). Clinical phenotypes in autopsy-confirmed Pick disease. Neurology, 76(3), 253-259. [More Information]

2010

  • Leyton, C., Savage, S., Piguet, O., Ballard, K., Pike, K., Villemagne, V., Jones, G., Rowe, C., Lillo, P., Hodges, J. (2010). Applicability and Predictability of the New PPA Consensus Criteria. 7th International Conference on Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD 2010), Indianapolis, USA: Springer Science+Business Media.
  • Leyton, C., Savage, S., Piguet, O., Ballard, K., Pike, K., Villemagne, V., Jones, G., Rowe, C., Burrell, J., Hodges, J. (2010). May Primary Progressive Aphasia be an atypical presentation of Alzheimer’s disease? Brain Science UNSW Symposium. The Developing Brain –from Womb to Tomb.
  • Todd, G., Taylor, J., Baumann, D., Butler, J., Duma, S., Hayes, M., Carew-Jones, F., Piguet, O., Behnke, S. (2010). Substantia nigra echomorphology and motor cortex excitability. NeuroImage, 50(4), 1351-1356. [More Information]

2009

  • Piguet, O., Halliday, G., Creasey, H., Broe, G., Kril, J. (2009). Frontotemporal dementia and dementia with Lewy bodies in a case-control study of Alzheimer's disease. International Psychogeriatrics, 21(4), 688-695. [More Information]

2007

  • Piguet, O., Double, K., Kril, J., Harasty, J., Macdonald, V., McRitchie, D., Halliday, G. (2007). White matter loss in healthy ageing: A postmortem analysis. Neurobiology of Aging, 30(8), 1288-1295. [More Information]

2006

  • Bennett, H., Piguet, O., Grayson, D., Creasey, H., Waite, L., Lye, T., Corbett, A., Hayes, M., Broe, G., Halliday, G. (2006). Cognitive, extrapyramidal, and magnetic resonance imaging predictors of functional impairment in nondemented older community dwellers: The Sydney Older Person Study. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 54(1), 3-10. [More Information]
  • Piguet, O., Cramsie, J., Bennett, H., Kril, J., Lye, T., Corbett, A., Hayes, M., Creasey, H., Broe, G. (2006). Contributions of age and alcohol consumption to cerebellar integrity, gait and cognition in non-demented very old individuals. European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, 256(8), 504-511. [More Information]
  • Lye, T., Grayson, D., Creasey, H., Piguet, O., Bennett, H., Ridley, L., Kril, J., Broe, G. (2006). Predicting memory performance in normal ageing using different measures of hippocampal size. Neuroradiology, 48(2), 90-99. [More Information]

2005

  • Piguet, O., Grayson, D., Tate, R., Bennett, H., Lye, T., Creasey, H., Brooks, W., Broe, G. (2005). A model of executive functions in very old community dwellers: evidence from The Sydney Older Persons Study. Cortex, 41(1), 27-37. [More Information]
  • Piguet, O., Ridley, J., Grayson, D., Bennett, H., Creasey, H., Lye, T., Broe, G. (2005). Comparing white matter lesions on T-2 and FLAIR MRI in the Sydney Older Persons Study. European Journal of Neurology, 12(5), 399-402. [More Information]
  • Waite, L., Grayson, D., Piguet, O., Creasey, H., Bennett, H., Broe, G. (2005). Gait slowing as a predictor of incident dementia: 6-year longitudinal data from the Sydney Older Persons Study. Journal of the Neurological Sciences, 229-230(1), 89-93. [More Information]

2004

  • Shepherd, C., Piguet, O., Broe, G., Creasey, H., Waite, L., Brooks, W., Kril, J. (2004). Histocompatibility Antigens, Aspirin Use And Cognitive Performance In Non-Demented Elderly Subjects. Journal of Neuroimmunology, 148(1-2), 178-182. [More Information]

2003

  • Bennett, H., Piguet, O., Grayson, D., Creasey, H., Waite, L., Broe, G., Halliday, G. (2003). A 6-year study of cognition and spatial function in the demented and non-demented elderly: The Sydney older persons study. Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders, 16(4), 181-186. [More Information]
  • Piguet, O., Ridley, J., Grayson, D., Bennett, H., Creasey, H., Lye, T., Broe, G. (2003). Are MRI white matter lesions clinically significant in the 'Old-Old'? Evidence from the Sydney Older Persons Study. Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders, 15(3), 143-150. [More Information]
  • Piguet, O., Grayson, D., Creasey, H., Bennett, H., Brooks, W., Waite, L., Broe, G. (2003). Vascular risk factors, cognition and dementia incidence over 6 years in the Sydney Older Persons Study. Neuroepidemiology, 22, 165-171. [More Information]

2002

  • Piguet, O., Grayson, D., Broe, G., Tate, R., Bennett, H., Lye, T., Creasey, H., Ridley, J. (2002). Normal ageing and executive functions in "old-old" community dwellers: Poor performance is not an inevitable outcome. International Psychogeriatrics, 14(2), 139-159.

Selected Grants

2024

  • Social Functioning Modelling Team, Dobson-Stone C, Piguet O, Brain and Mind Centre/BMC Strategic Program Support

2023

  • Social Functioning Modelling, Piguet O, Dobson-Stone C, Brain and Mind Centre/BMC Strategic Program Support
  • A new tool to optimise the early and accurate diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia, Irish M, Foxe D, Jeon Y, Velakoulis D, Robinson G, Whitton A, Kumfor F, Low L, Piguet O, Ahmed R, Department of Health and Aged Care (Federal - administered by NHMRC)/Dementia, Ageing and Aged Care Mission - 2022 Dementia, Ageing and Aged Care Grant