Reply to Cronin: Consistency between decision-making, gaze, and natural social behavior validates inferences on macaque social cognition

Abstract Objective To characterize social cognition, language, and social behavior as potentially shared vulnerability markers in children at familial high-risk of schizophrenia (FHR-SZ) and bipolar disorder (FHR-BP). Methods The Danish High-Risk and Resilience Study VIA7 is a multisite population-based cohort of 522 7-year-old children extracted from the Danish registries. The population-based controls were matched to the FHR-SZ children on age, sex, and municipality. The FHR-BP group followed same inclusion criteria. Data were collected blinded to familial high-risk status. Outcomes were social cognition, language, and social behavior. Results The analysis included 202 FHR-SZ children (girls: 46%), 120 FHR-BP children (girls: 46.7%), and 200 controls (girls: 46.5%). FHR-SZ children displayed significant deficits in language (receptive: d = −0.27, P = .006; pragmatic: d = −0.51, P < .001), social responsiveness (d = −0.54, P < .001), and adaptive social functioning (d = −0.47, P < .001) compared to controls after Bonferroni correction. Compared to FHR-BP children, FHR-SZ children performed significantly poorer on adaptive social functioning (d = −0.29, P = .007) after Bonferroni correction. FHR-BP and FHR-SZ children showed no significant social cognitive impairments compared to controls after Bonferroni correction. Conclusion Language, social responsiveness, and adaptive social functioning deficits seem associated with FHR-SZ but not FHR-BP in this developmental phase. The pattern of results suggests adaptive social functioning impairments may not be shared between FHR-BP and FHR-SZ in this developmental phase and thus not reflective of the shared risk factors for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

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Social cognition in schizophrenia: The role of mentalizing in moral dilemma decision-making

Comprehensive Psychiatry ◽

10.1016/j.comppsych.2018.10.013 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 87 ◽

pp. 171-178 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Katja Koelkebeck ◽

Lisa Kuegler ◽

Waldemar Kohl ◽

Alva Engell ◽

Rebekka Lencer

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Social Cognition ◽

Moral Dilemma

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Social Cognition in 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome and Idiopathic Developmental Neuropsychiatric Disorders

10.21203/rs.3.rs-17764/v2 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Rhideeta Jalal ◽

Aarti Nair ◽

Amy Lin ◽

Ariel Eckfeld ◽

Leila Kushan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Social Cognition ◽

Social Behavior ◽

Cognitive Abilities ◽

Social Cognitive ◽

22Q11.2 Deletion Syndrome ◽

Neuropsychiatric Disorders ◽

Intellectual Functioning ◽

Deletion Syndrome ◽

Neurocognitive Deficits ◽

The Relationship

Abstract Background: 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11DS) is a common recurrent neurogenetic condition associated with elevated risk for developmental neuropsychiatric disorders and intellectual disability. Children and adults with 22q11DS often exhibit marked social impairment as well as neurocognitive deficits, and have elevated rates of both autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and psychosis. However, the relationship between the basic processes of social cognition and cognitive ability has not been well studied in 22q11DS. Here, we examined differences in social cognition in 22q11DS, relative to multiple groups of idiopathic neuropsychiatric disorders, and typically developing healthy controls (HC). Additionally, we examined differences in intellectual functioning and its relationship to social cognitive abilities. Finally, we examined the relationship between social cognitive abilities and real-world social behavior. Methods: We examined social cognition and intellectual functioning in 273 participants (mean age = 17.74+/-5.18% female = 44.3%): 50 with 22q11DS, 49 youth with first episode psychosis (FEP), 48 at clinical high-risk (CHR) for psychosis, 24 participants with ASD, and 102 HC. Social cognition was assessed using The Awareness of Social Inference Test (TASIT), while reciprocal social behavior was assessed via parent/caregiver ratings on the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS). Participants were also administered the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence, 2 nd edition (WASI-II) to assess intellectual functioning. Results: The 22q11DS group exhibited significantly lower social cognitive abilities compared to all other groups, even after controlling for intellectual functioning. Significant positive correlations were found between social cognition, as measured by the TASIT, and IQ across groups. In contrast, no significant relationships were found between TASIT and real-world social behavior (SRS) for any group. Conclusions: Our findings indicate social cognitive deficits are more prominent in 22q11DS than idiopathic neuropsychiatric conditions across the age range, even after adjusting for global intellectual function. These results contribute to our understanding of the intellectual and social vulnerabilities of 22q11DS in comparison to idiopathic neuropsychiatric disorders. Our findings of robust associations between intellectual ability and social cognition emphasizes the importance of accounting for neurocognitive deficits in social skills interventions and tailoring these existing treatment models for 22q11DS and other populations with intellectual impairment.

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Social Cognition in 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome and Idiopathic Developmental Neuropsychiatric Disorders

10.21203/rs.3.rs-17764/v1 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Rhideeta Jalal ◽

Aarti Nair ◽

Amy Lin ◽

Ariel Eckfeld ◽

Leila Kushan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Social Cognition ◽

Social Behavior ◽

Cognitive Abilities ◽

Social Cognitive ◽

22Q11.2 Deletion Syndrome ◽

Neuropsychiatric Disorders ◽

Intellectual Functioning ◽

Deletion Syndrome ◽

Neurocognitive Deficits ◽

The Relationship

Abstract Background 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11DS) is a common recurrent neurogenetic condition associated with elevated risk for developmental neuropsychiatric disorders and intellectual disability. Children and adults with 22q11DS often exhibit marked social impairment as well as neurocognitive deficits, and have elevated rates of both autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and psychosis. However, the relationship between the basic processes of social cognition and cognitive ability has not been well studied in 22q11DS. Here, we examined differences in social cognition in 22q11DS, relative to multiple groups of idiopathic neuropsychiatric disorders, and typically developing healthy controls (HC). Additionally, we examined differences in intellectual functioning and its relationship to social cognitive abilities. Finally, we examined the relationship between social cognitive abilities and real-world social behavior. Methods We examined social cognition and intellectual functioning in 306 participants (mean age = 16.63+/-4.59; % female = 44.8%): sixty-eight with 22q11DS, 49 youth with first episode psychosis (FEP), 48 at clinical high-risk (CHR) for psychosis, 24 participants with ASD, and 117 HC. Social cognition was assessed using The Awareness of Social Inference Test (TASIT), while reciprocal social behavior was assessed via parent/caregiver ratings on the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS). Participants were also administered the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence, 2 nd edition (WASI-II) to assess intellectual functioning. Results The 22q11DS group exhibited significantly lower social cognitive abilities compared to all other groups, even after controlling for intellectual functioning. Significant positive correlations were found between social cognition, as measured by the TASIT, and IQ across groups. In contrast, no significant relationships were found between TASIT and real-world social behavior (SRS) for any group. Conclusions Our findings indicate social cognitive deficits are more prominent in 22q11DS than idiopathic neuropsychiatric conditions across the age range, even after adjusting for global intellectual function. These results contribute to our understanding of the intellectual and social vulnerabilities of 22q11DS in comparison to idiopathic neuropsychiatric disorders. Our findings of robust associations between intellectual ability and social cognition emphasizes the importance of accounting for neurocognitive deficits in social skills interventions and tailoring these existing treatment models for 22q11DS and other populations with intellectual impairment.

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An unintentional, robust, and replicable pro-Black bias in social judgment

10.31234/osf.io/u7dgk ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Jordan Axt ◽

Charles R. Ebersole ◽

Brian A. Nosek

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Social Behavior ◽

Empirical Evidence ◽

Social Groups ◽

Social Judgment ◽

Social Commentary ◽

Acceptance Criterion ◽

Implicit And Explicit ◽

Academic Decision Making ◽

Honor Society

Empirical evidence and social commentary demonstrate favoring of Whites over Blacks in attitudes, social judgment, and social behavior. In 6 studies (N > 4,000), we provide evidence for a pro-Black bias in academic decision-making. When making multiple admissions decisions for an academic honor society, participants from undergraduate and online samples had a more relaxed acceptance criterion for Black than White candidates, even though participants possessed implicit and explicit preferences for Whites over Blacks. This pro-Black criterion bias persisted among subsamples that wanted to be unbiased and believed they were unbiased. It also persisted even when participants were given warning of the bias or incentives to perform accurately. These results suggest opportunity for theoretical and empirical innovation on the conditions under which biases in social judgment favor and disfavor different social groups, and how those biases manifest outside of awareness or control.

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Neurocomputational mechanisms of confidence in self and others

10.1101/2021.03.05.434065 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Dan Bang ◽

Rani Moran ◽

Nathaniel Douglass Daw ◽

Stephen M Fleming

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Social Cognition ◽

Theory Of Mind ◽

Social Situations ◽

Self And Other ◽

Difficult Decision ◽

Substantial Progress ◽

Decision Difficulty

Computing confidence in one's own and others' decisions is crucial for success in many social situations. There has been substantial progress in our understanding of confidence in oneself, but little is known about how we form confidence in others. Here, we address this question by asking subjects undergoing fMRI to place bets on perceptual decisions made by themselves or one of three other players of varying ability. We show that subjects' compute confidence in another player's decisions by combining distinct estimates of player ability and decision difficulty - allowing them to predict that a good player may get a difficult decision wrong and that a bad player may get an easy decision right. We find that this computation is supported by an interaction between brain systems traditionally implicated in decision-making (LIP) and theory of mind (TPJ, dmPFC). These results reveal a neurocomputational interplay between self- and other-related processes during social cognition.

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Theory and Research to Study Principles of Social Cognition and Decision-Making in Adaptive Environmental Governance

Practical Panarchy for Adaptive Water Governance ◽

10.1007/978-3-319-72472-0_17 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 289-309

Author(s):

Daniel A. DeCaro ◽

Craig Anthony Arnold ◽

Emmanuel Frimpong Boamah ◽

Ahjond S. Garmestani

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Social Cognition ◽

Environmental Governance

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Social Cognition through the Lens of Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience

BioMed Research International ◽

10.1155/2018/4283427 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 2018 ◽

pp. 1-18 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

Maria Arioli ◽

Chiara Crespi ◽

Nicola Canessa

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Social Cognition ◽

Cognitive Deficits ◽

Cognitive Skills ◽

Social Cognitive ◽

Acquired Brain Injury ◽

Clinical Neuroscience ◽

Pathological Conditions ◽

The Social ◽

Social Cognitive Deficits

Social cognition refers to a set of processes, ranging from perception to decision-making, underlying the ability to decode others’ intentions and behaviors to plan actions fitting with social and moral, besides individual and economic considerations. Its centrality in everyday life reflects the neural complexity of social processing and the ubiquity of social cognitive deficits in different pathological conditions. Social cognitive processes can be clustered in three domains associated with (a) perceptual processing of social information such as faces and emotional expressions (social perception), (b) grasping others’ cognitive or affective states (social understanding), and (c) planning behaviors taking into consideration others’, in addition to one’s own, goals (social decision-making). We review these domains from the lens of cognitive neuroscience, i.e., in terms of the brain areas mediating the role of such processes in the ability to make sense of others’ behavior and plan socially appropriate actions. The increasing evidence on the “social brain” obtained from healthy young individuals nowadays constitutes the baseline for detecting changes in social cognitive skills associated with physiological aging or pathological conditions. In the latter case, impairments in one or more of the abovementioned domains represent a prominent concern, or even a core facet, of neurological (e.g., acquired brain injury or neurodegenerative diseases), psychiatric (e.g., schizophrenia), and developmental (e.g., autism) disorders. To pave the way for the other papers of this issue, addressing the social cognitive deficits associated with severe acquired brain injury, we will briefly discuss the available evidence on the status of social cognition in normal aging and its breakdown in neurodegenerative disorders. Although the assessment and treatment of such impairments is a relatively novel sector in neurorehabilitation, the evidence summarized here strongly suggests that the development of remediation procedures for social cognitive skills will represent a future field of translational research in clinical neuroscience.

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