Executive Functions, Memory, and Social Cognitive Deficits and Recovery in Chronic Alcoholism: A Critical Review to Inform Future Research

AbstractChildren entering out-of-home (OoH) care have often experienced multiple forms of maltreatment and are at risk of psychiatric disorder and poor long-term outcome. Recent evidence shows high rates of disinhibited attachment disorder (DAD) among maltreated adolescents in UK OoH care (Kay & Green, 2013). This study aimed to further understand the mechanisms of outcome in this group through investigation of social cognitive functioning. Patterns of theory of mind (ToM) and social information processing were assessed alongside DAD behavior and psychopathology in 63 adolescents in UK OoH care (mean age = 176 months, SD = 22; 48% male; 89% White British) and 69 low-risk comparison adolescents (mean age = 171 months, SD = 17; 46% male; 87% White British). Compared to low risk, OoH adolescents showed a hostile attribution bias and ToM deficit, but this was confounded by language ability. ToM was associated with reduced hostile attribution and responding biases and increased social competence, which was further associated with lower levels of externalizing psychopathology. There was no association between social cognition and core features of DAD. Social cognitive deficits and biases may play a role in the high rates of externalizing psychopathology and relationship functioning difficulties in maltreated samples. Future research should assess alternative cognitive mechanisms for DAD.

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Depressive Traits and Theory of Mind in Healthy Individuals: A Mediation Study

10.31237/osf.io/ndjcr ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Nicholas James Rowark

Keyword(s):

Theory Of Mind ◽

Executive Functions ◽

Executive Control ◽

Statistical Power ◽

Social Cognitive ◽

Clinical Sample ◽

Small Sample ◽

Future Research ◽

Healthy Individuals ◽

Prepotent Response

Depression has been associated with poor social cognitive functioning, including impaired performance on measures of theory of mind. However, the association between depression and theory of mind performance has been removed when controlling for differences in executive functioning, which is also impacted by depression. Among these executive functions, inhibition of prepotent response has been demonstrated as enabling success on theory of mind tests. In the context of these findings, the current investigation tested whether a relationship could be found between depressive traits and theory of mind in a non-clinical sample, and whether this relationship was mediated by differences in executive control of inhibition. Theory of mind was assessed in 31 healthy individuals using an audio-presented false-belief reasoning task, which also tested baseline performance in non-mental-state reasoning. Inhibition of prepotent response was assessed with interference measures on a Stroop colour-word task, and depressive traits were self-reported through the second version of the Beck Depression Inventory. Mediation analysis revealed that executive control of inhibition did not significantly mediate an indirect effect of depressive traits on theory of mind. It was interpreted that relationships previously found between major depression, executive and social-cognitive functions do not generalise beyond clinical boundaries. However, these findings are discussed in terms of the small sample size, limiting statistical power, and several methodological limitations. Future research should assess the relationship between depressive traits and theory of mind using alternative measures of mental representation, or include a neurocognitive battery assessing executive functions other than inhibition.

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Social cognitive deficits and their neural correlates in progressive supranuclear palsy

Brain ◽

10.1093/brain/aws128 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 135 (7) ◽

pp. 2089-2102 ◽

Cited By ~ 65

Author(s):

Boyd C. P. Ghosh ◽

Andrew J. Calder ◽

Polly V. Peers ◽

Andrew D. Lawrence ◽

Julio Acosta-Cabronero ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Progressive Supranuclear Palsy ◽

Cognitive Deficits ◽

Social Cognitive ◽

Neural Correlates ◽

Social Cognitive Deficits

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Aberrant Activation of the Mentalizing Brain System During Eye Gaze Discrimination in Bipolar Disorder

10.1101/2021.04.19.21255514 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Ivy F. Tso ◽

Cynthia Z Burton ◽

Carly A Lasagna ◽

Saige Rutherford ◽

Beier Yao ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Bipolar Disorder ◽

Cognitive Deficits ◽

Social Cognitive ◽

Eye Gaze ◽

Healthy Controls ◽

Gaze Perception ◽

Brain System ◽

Social Cognitive Deficits ◽

Mentalizing System ◽

Preferential Activation

Bipolar disorder (BD) is associated with a range of social cognitive deficits. This study investigated the functioning of the mentalizing brain system in BD probed by an eye gaze perception task during fMRI. Compared with healthy controls (n = 21), BD participants (n = 14) showed reduced preferential activation for self-directed gaze discrimination in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and temporo-parietal junction (TPJ), which was associated with poorer cognitive and social functioning. Aberrant functions of the mentalizing system should be further investigated as marker of social dysfunction and treatment targets.

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Social cognitive deficits following stroke

10.14264/eab1fb2 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

◽

Alexandra Grace Adams

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Deficits ◽

Social Cognitive ◽

Social Cognitive Deficits

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Social cognition and major depressive disorder: impact on psychosocial function and therapeutic opportunities

BJPsych Open ◽

10.1192/bjo.2021.794 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 7 (S1) ◽

pp. S300-S300

Author(s):

Michael Weightman ◽

Bernhard Baune

Keyword(s):

Major Depressive Disorder ◽

Depressive Disorder ◽

Cognitive Deficits ◽

Psychosocial Functioning ◽

Social Cognitive ◽

Major Depressive ◽

Depressed Patients ◽

The Social ◽

Social Cognitive Deficits ◽

The Impact

AimsThis poster aims to examine the impact of social cognitive deficits on psychosocial functioning in depressed patients, as well as summarise the utility of various evidence-based therapeutic interventions employed to target these deficits. The stated hypotheses were twofold: (1) that social cognitive impairment in major depressive disorder will correlate with poorer psychosocial functioning; and (2) that these deficits will respond to existing anti-depressant therapies.BackgroundSocial cognition is an important adaptive trait that incorporates the identification, perception and interpretation of socially relevant information from the external world. It is frequently affected in major depressive disorder such that depressed patienMethodA review of the existing literature was performed in order to test the stated hypotheses. Pertinent sources were identified via the MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, PubMed, Scopus and Google Scholar databases. A total of 107 studies met inclusion criteria for review.ResultImpaired social cognitive performance in depressed patients correlated with poorer psychosocial functioning across the key domains of general cognitive functioning and quality of life. Many current anti-depressant therapies were found to have a normalising effect on the social cognitive abilities of depressed subjects, both at a neural and functional level. Anti-depressant medications, in particular citalopram and reboxetine, appeared to correct facial affect recognition deficits, while a psychotherapeutic approach demonstrated improvements in theory of mind and negative interpretive bias. Data relating to other common treatments, such as electroconvulsive therapy, are limited.ConclusionThe impact and treatment of social cognitive deficits in major depressive disorder is an important emerging field. The social cognitive deficits evident in depressed patients are sometimes subtle, but afford a significant functional impact. Additionally, it appears these impairments are at least partially reversible using anti-depressants or psychotherapy.

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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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Community Integration in Traumatic Brain Injury: The Contributing Factor of Affect Recognition Deficits

Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society ◽

10.1017/s1355617719000559 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 25 (08) ◽

pp. 890-895 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Allison S. Binder ◽

Katie Lancaster ◽

Jean Lengenfelder ◽

Nancy D. Chiaravalloti ◽

Helen M. Genova

Keyword(s):

Traumatic Brain Injury ◽

Brain Injury ◽

Cognitive Deficits ◽

Social Cognitive ◽

Community Integration ◽

Well Being ◽

Affect Recognition ◽

Dynamic Task ◽

Inference Test ◽

Social Cognitive Deficits

AbstractObjective: Individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI) can experience social isolation, which is damaging to well-being and counterproductive to successful rehabilitation. It has been proposed that social cognitive deficits that commonly result from TBI may contribute to weakened social integration. However, the consequences of specific social cognitive deficits in TBI are still being delineated. The current work sought to better characterize the relationship between community integration and facial affect recognition (FAR) in TBI. Participants and Methods: A total of 27 participants with moderate to severe TBI and 30 healthy controls (HCs) completed two tests of FAR, which employed either static photographic stimuli or dynamic video stimuli (The Awareness of Social Inference Test). The Community Integration Questionnaire was also administered to participants. Results: Participants with TBI were significantly impaired on both the static and dynamic FAR measures, yet the deficits were most pronounced within the dynamic task. Furthermore, participants with TBI reported lower community integration compared with HCs. FAR was positively associated with community integration in both groups, such that participants with proficient affect recognition skills were better integrated into their communities. Conclusions: FAR deficits may contribute to the lack of community integration often observed in TBI; thus, interventions designed to improve FAR may be beneficial to this population’s ability to successfully reintegrate into society.

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