Heterogeneity in functional connectivity: Dimensional predictors of individual variability during rest and task fMRI in psychosis

BACKGROUND

Individuals with schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD) often demonstrate cognitive impairments, associated with poor functional outcomes. While neurobiological heterogeneity has posed challenges when examining social cognition in SSD, it provides a unique opportunity to explore brain-behavior relationships. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between individual variability in functional connectivity during resting state and the performance of a social task and social and non-social cognition in a large sample of controls and individuals diagnosed with SSD.

METHODS

Neuroimaging and behavioral data were analyzed for 193 individuals with SSD and 155 controls (total n = 348). Individual variability was quantified through mean correlational distance (MCD) of functional connectivity between participants; MCD was defined as a global 'variability score'. Pairwise correlational distance was calculated as 1 - the correlation coefficient between a given pair of participants, and averaging distance from one participant to all other participants provided the mean correlational distance metric. Hierarchical regressions were performed on variability scores derived from resting state and Empathic Accuracy (EA) task functional connectivity data to determine potential predictors (e.g., age, sex, neurocognitive and social cognitive scores) of individual variability.

RESULTS

Group comparison between SSD and controls showed greater SSD MCD during rest (p = 0.00038), while no diagnostic differences were observed during task (p = 0.063). Hierarchical regression analyses demonstrated the persistence of a significant diagnostic effect during rest (p = 0.008), contrasting with its non-significance during the task (p = 0.50), after social cognition was added to the model. Notably, social cognition exhibited significance in both resting state and task conditions (both p = 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS

Diagnostic differences were more prevalent during unconstrained resting scans, whereas the task pushed participants into a more common pattern which better emphasized transdiagnostic differences in cognitive abilities. Focusing on variability may provide new opportunities for interventions targeting specific cognitive impairments to improve functional outcomes.

Three key questions to move towards a theoretical framework of visuospatial perspective taking

What would a theory of visuospatial perspective taking (VSPT) look like? Here, ten researchers in the field, many with different theoretical viewpoints and empirical approaches, present their consensus on the three big questions we need to answer in order to bring this theory (or these theories) closer.

Children teach sensational information-as long as it is true

When sharing information, teenagers and adults prioritize what is sensational or attention-grabbing, sometimes at the cost of the truth. Nothing is known so far about whether young children prefer to transmit sensational information or what they prioritize when the sensational quality of information conflicts with its truth. In two experiments (N = 136), 4- and 5-year-olds engaged in a forced-choice task in which they selected one of two statements to teach to a peer. In the absence of explicit truth value assignments, children of both ages preferred teaching sensational information over non-sensational (neutral) information (p < .0001). When information was sensational but untrue, truth trumped sensationalism in both age groups (p < .0001). The experiments shed more light on biases that affect the early ontogeny of information exchange. Not only do children prioritize certain kinds of information when teaching, they also actively weigh these preferences against one another and mute their bias for sensationalism when veracity is at stake.

Studying the social mind: An updated summary of findings from the Vietnam Head Injury Study

Lesion mapping studies allow us to evaluate the potential causal contribution of specific brain areas to human cognition and complement other cognitive neuroscience methods, as several authors have recently pointed out. Here, we present an updated summary of the findings from the Vietnam Head Injury Study (VHIS) focusing on the studies conducted over the last decade, that examined the social mind and its intricate neural and cognitive underpinnings. The VHIS is a prospective, long-term follow-up study of Vietnam veterans with penetrating traumatic brain injury (pTBI) and healthy controls (HC). The scope of the work is to present the studies from the latest phases (3 and 4) of the VHIS, 70 studies since 2011, when the Raymont et al. paper was published (Raymont et al., 2011). These studies have contributed to our understanding of human social cognition, including political and religious beliefs, theory of mind, but also executive functions, intelligence, and personality. This work finally discusses the usefulness of lesion mapping as an approach to understanding the functions of the human brain from basic science and clinical perspectives.

Optimizing competence in the service of collaboration

In order to efficiently divide labor with others, it is important to understand what our collaborators can do (i.e., their competence). However, competence is not static-people get better at particular jobs the more often they perform them. This plasticity of competence creates a challenge for collaboration: For example, is it better to assign tasks to whoever is most competent now, or to the person who can be trained most efficiently "on-the-job"? We conducted four experiments (N=396) that examine how people make decisions about whom to train (Experiments 1 and 3) and whom to recruit (Experiments 2 and 4) to a collaborative task, based on the simulated collaborators' starting expertise, the training opportunities available, and the goal of the task. We found that participants' decisions were best captured by a planning model that attempts to maximize the returns from collaboration while minimizing the costs of hiring and training individual collaborators. This planning model outperformed alternative models that based these decisions on the agents' current competence, or on how much agents stood to improve in a single training step, without considering whether this training would enable agents to succeed at the task in the long run. Our findings suggest that people do not recruit and train collaborators based solely on their current competence, nor solely on the opportunities for their collaborators to improve. Instead, people use an intuitive theory of competence to balance the costs of hiring and training others against the benefits to the collaboration.

Long-term effects of vagus nerve stimulation therapy on cognitive functioning in patients with drug-resistant epilepsy

BACKGROUND

Despite the increasing use of vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) for drug-resistant epilepsy, its impact on cognitive functioning remains insufficiently investigated.

OBJECTIVE

We aimed to comprehensively assess changes in cognition after long-term VNS therapy in a prospective sample of adults with epilepsy.

METHODS

Between December 2019 and March 2023, patients scheduled for VNS implantation were invited for neuropsychological assessment, including tests of executive functions, working and short-term memory (recall of a verbal logical story and the Rey-Osterrieth complex figure (ROCF)), and social cognition. Participants were re-evaluated after a year of VNS therapy and the pre- and postoperative scores were compared by means of the Student's t or Wilcoxon's signed rank tests for paired samples. Patients available only after a longer follow-up (more than 24 months) were also re-examined and included in a secondary analysis.

RESULTS

The study included 28 PWE (16, 57.1% female, average age 33.7 ± 10.0 years). Twenty-two PWE followed-up at 14.5 ± 4.8 months had worse categorical verbal fluency than preoperatively (t = 2.613, p = 0.016). After including patients with long follow-up (n = 28, 21.6 ± 11.4 months), the group scored better on the delayed recall of the ROCF (17.09 ± 8.84 to 20.65 ± 8.32 points, t(22) =  - 2.618, p = 0.016) and the Happé strange stories test (5.0 ± 2.6 to 6.1 ± 2.1 points, t(14) =  - 3.281, p = 0.005). No significant changes were observed in other cognitive domains (p > 0.05).

CONCLUSION

We suggest improvements in a task of social cognition and short-term visual memory after longer use of VNS therapy. Such findings should be confirmed in larger trials after controlling for changes in ictal or interictal activity.

Emotion recognition in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in a dynamic environment

OBJECTIVE

The aim of our study was to measure the ability of ALS patients to process dynamic facial expressions as compared to a control group of healthy subjects and to correlate this ability in ALS patients with neuropsychological, clinical and neurological measures of the disease.

METHODS

Sixty-three ALS patients and 47 healthy controls were recruited. All the ALS patients also underwent i) the Geneva Emotion Recognition Test (GERT) in which ten actors express 14 types of dynamic emotions in brief video clips with audio, ii) the Edimburgh Cognitive and Behavioral ALS Screen (ECAS) test; iii) the ALS Functional Rating Scale Revised (ALSFRS-R) and iv) the Medical Research Council (MRC) for the evaluation of muscle strength. All the healthy subjects enrolled in the study underwent the GERT.

RESULTS

The recognition of irritation and pleasure was significantly different between ALS patients and the control group. The amusement, despair, irritation, joy, sadness and surprise had been falsely recognized differently between the two groups. Specific ALS cognitive impairment was associated with bulbar-onset phenotype (OR = 14,3889; 95%CI = 3,96-52,16). No association was observed between false emotion recognition and cognitive impairment (F(1,60)=,56,971, p=,45,333). The number of categorical errors was significantly higher in the ALS patients than in the control group (27,66 ± 7,28 vs 17,72 ± 5,29; t = 8723; p = 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

ALS patients show deficits in the dynamic processing of a wide range of emotions. These deficits are not necessarily associated with a decline in higher cognitive functions: this could therefore lead to an underestimation of the phenomenon.

Social cognition and neurocognition in first-episode bipolar disorder and psychosis: The effect of negative and attenuated positive symptoms

BACKGROUND

Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are associated with neurocognitive and social-cognitive impairments. To date very few studies investigated social cognition in first-episode bipolar disorder (FEBD). Our main aim was to investigate the differences in social cognition and neurocognition between FEBD and first-episode psychosis (FEP). Another aim was to investigate neurocognitive correlates of negative symptoms and attenuated psychotic symptoms in FEBD.

METHODS

This study included 55 FEBD, 64 FEP and 43 healthy controls. A comprehensive neuropsychological battery assessing social cognition, processing speed, verbal and visual memory, working memory, sustained attention, and executive functions was administered to all participants.

RESULTS

Both FEBD and FEP were associated with widespread deficits in all neurocognitive domains and social cognition. Both FEP (d = -1.19) and FEBP (d = -0.88) were also impaired in social cognition. In FEP, effect sizes (Cohen's d) of neurocognitive deficits ranged from -0.71 to -1.56. FEBD was also associated with relatively milder but similar neurocognitive deficits (d = -0.61 to-1.17). FEBD group performed significantly better than FEP group in verbal and visual memory, processing speed, and executive function domains (d = -0.40 to-0.52). Negative symptoms and social functioning were associated with neuropsychological impairment in both groups. The severity of attenuated psychotic symptoms was associated with poorer verbal memory in FEBD (r = -0.39, p < 0.01).

LIMITATIONS

The cross-sectional nature of the current study is the main limitation.

CONCLUSIONS

Neurocognitive and social-cognitive deficits are evident in both FEBD and FEP. In FEBD, more severe memory deficits might be markers of clinical overlap and shared neurobiological vulnerability with psychotic disorders.

Clinical and cortical trajectories in non-fluent primary progressive aphasia and Alzheimer's disease: A role for emotion processing

OBJECTIVES

To examine the clinical trajectories and neural correlates of cognitive and emotion processing changes in the non-fluent/agrammatic (nfvPPA) and the logopenic (lvPPA) variants of primary progressive aphasia (PPA).

DESIGN

Observational case-control longitudinal cohort study.

SETTING

Research clinic of frontotemporal dementia.

PARTICIPANTS

This study recruited 29 non-semantic PPA patients (15 nfvPPA and 14 lvPPA) and compared them with 15 Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients and 14 healthy controls.

MEASUREMENTS

Participants completed an annual assessment (median = 2 years; range = 1-5 years) of general cognition, emotion processing and structural MRI. Linear mixed effects models investigated clinical and imaging trajectories between groups.

RESULTS

Over time, lvPPA showed the greatest cognitive deterioration. In contrast, nfvPPA showed significant decline in emotion recognition, whereas AD showed preserved emotion recognition, even with disease progression. Importantly, lvPPA also developed emotion processing impairments, with disease progression. Both nfvPPA and lvPPA showed continuing cortical atrophy in hallmark language-processing regions associated with these syndromes, together with progressive involvement of the right hemisphere regions, mirroring left hemisphere atrophy patterns at presentation. Decline in emotion processing was associated with bilateral frontal atrophy in nfvPPA and right temporal atrophy in lvPPA.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results show divergent clinical courses in nfvPPA and lvPPA, with rapid cognitive and neural deterioration in lvPPA and emotion processing decline in both groups and support the concurrent assessment of cognition and emotion processing in the clinic to inform diagnosis and monitoring in the non-semantic variants of PPA.

Weighing the role of social cognition and executive functioning in pragmatics in the schizophrenia spectrum: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Pragmatic impairment is diffused in schizophrenia spectrum disorders, but the literature still debates its neurocognitive underpinnings. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to investigate the neurocognitive correlates of pragmatic disorders in schizophrenia and determine the weight of social cognition and executive functioning on such disorders. Of the 2,668 records retrieved from the literature, 16 papers were included in the systematic review, mostly focused on non-literal meanings and discourse production in schizophrenia. Ten studies were included in the meta-analysis: pragmatics was moderately associated with both social cognition and executive functions (especially inhibition), but the link with social cognition was stronger. The mediation analysis showed that social cognition mediated the relationship between executive functions and pragmatics. Based on this, we proposed a hierarchical neurocognitive model where pragmatics stems from social cognition, while executive functions are the fertile ground supporting the other two domains, and we discuss its theoretical and clinical implications.

Supraphysiological testosterone levels from anabolic steroid use and reduced sensitivity to negative facial expressions in men

RATIONALE

Anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS) are used to improve physical performance and appearance, but have been associated with deficits in social cognitive functioning. Approximately 30% of people who use AAS develop a dependence, increasing the risk for undesired effects.

OBJECTIVES

To assess the relationship between AAS use (current/previous), AAS dependence, and the ability to recognize emotional facial expressions, and investigate the potential mediating role of hormone levels.

METHODS

In total 156 male weightlifters, including those with current (n = 45) or previous (n = 34) AAS use and never-using controls (n = 77), completed a facial Emotion Recognition Task (ERT). Participants were presented with faces expressing one out of six emotions (sadness, happiness, fear, anger, disgust, and surprise) and were instructed to indicate which of the six emotions each face displayed. ERT accuracy and response time were recorded and evaluated for association with AAS use status, AAS dependence, and serum reproductive hormone levels. Mediation models were used to evaluate the mediating role of androgens in the relationship between AAS use and ERT performance.

RESULTS

Compared to never-using controls, men currently using AAS exhibited lower recognition accuracy for facial emotional expressions, particularly anger (Cohen's d = -0.57, pFDR = 0.03) and disgust (d = -0.51, pFDR = 0.05). Those with AAS dependence (n = 47) demonstrated worse recognition of fear relative to men without dependence (d = 0.58, p = 0.03). Recognition of disgust was negatively correlated with serum free testosterone index (FTI); however, FTI did not significantly mediate the association between AAS use and recognition of disgust.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings demonstrate impaired facial emotion recognition among men currently using AAS compared to controls. While further studies are needed to investigate potential mechanisms, our analysis did not support a simple mediation effect of serum FTI.

The extended neural architecture of human attachment: An fMRI coordinate-based meta-analysis of affiliative studies

Functional imaging studies and clinical evidence indicate that cortical areas relevant to social cognition are closely integrated with evolutionarily conserved basal forebrain structures and neighboring regions, enabling human attachment and affiliative emotions. The neural circuitry of human affiliation is continually being unraveled as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) becomes increasingly prevalent, with studies examining human brain responses to various attachment figures. However, previous fMRI meta-analyses on affiliative stimuli have encountered challenges, such as low statistical power and the absence of robustness measures. To address these issues, we conducted an exhaustive coordinate-based meta-analysis of 79 fMRI studies, focusing on personalized affiliative stimuli, including one's infants, family, romantic partners, and friends. We employed complementary coordinate-based analyses (Activation Likelihood Estimation and Signed Differential Mapping) and conducted a robustness analysis of the results. Findings revealed cluster convergence in cortical and subcortical structures related to reward and motivation, salience detection, social bonding, and cognition. Our study thoroughly explores the neural correlates underpinning affiliative responses, effectively overcoming the limitations noted in previous meta-analyses. It provides an extensive view of the neural substrates associated with affiliative stimuli, illuminating the intricate interaction between cortical and subcortical regions. Our findings significantly contribute to understanding the neurobiology of human affiliation, expanding the known human attachment circuitry beyond the traditional basal forebrain regions observed in other mammals to include uniquely human isocortical structures.

Perceiving others' cognitive effort through movement: Path length, speed, and time

Effort perception is a crucial capacity underpinning characteristically human forms of sociality, allowing us to learn about others' mental states and about the value of opportunities afforded by our environment, and supporting our ability to cooperate efficiently and fairly. Despite the crucial importance and prevalence of effort perception, little is known about the mechanisms underpinning it. Across two online experiments (N = 462), we tested whether adults estimate others' cognitive effort costs by tracking perceptible properties of movement such as path length, time, and speed. The results showed that only time had a consistent effect on effort perception, that is, participants rated longer time as more effortful. Taken together, our results suggest that within the context of our task-observing an agent deciphering a captcha-people rely on the time of others' actions to estimate their cognitive effort costs.

Children's evaluations of culturally diverse lunchbox foods

Previous research indicates that children make ingroup-outgroup judgments based on notions of food conventionality and that ethnic minority children have been teased or bullied for bringing non-conventional foods to school. This series of three studies experimentally investigated U.S. school-age children's evaluations of culturally diverse lunchbox foods. Study 1 examined an online sample of children aged 5 to 12 years and their evaluations of foods from four cultures (mainstream American, Chinese, Indian, and Mexican) on the taste, smell, and messiness of the food, the appropriateness of bringing the food to school, and whether "cool kids" eat the food. Compared with the mainstream American lunchbox, children rated the Chinese, Indian, and Mexican lunchboxes as less tasty, more messy, and less likely that cool kids would bring those foods to school. In Studies 2 and 3, we examined children's behavioral choices in a hypothetical cafeteria. In both studies, we found that the match between children's own lunch preferences and what was displayed in the mainstream American lunchbox was the only predictor of children's choice to sit at the table with the American lunchbox. Individual variables (e.g., child age, food pickiness) and contextual variables (e.g., neighborhood diversity) did not predict children's table choices. This research highlights children's understanding of familiarity and conventionality of foods and the social consequences of their behavioral choices.

New directions for studying the aging social-cognitive brain

The study of social cognition has extended across the lifespan with a recent special focus on the impacts of aging on the social-cognitive brain. This review summarizes current knowledge on social perception, theory of mind, empathy, and social behavior from a social-cognitive neuroscience of aging perspective and identifies new directions for studying the aging social-cognitive brain. These new directions highlight the need for (i) standardized operationalization and analysis of social-cognitive constructs; (ii) use of naturalistic paradigms to enhance ecological validity of social-cognitive measures; (iii) application of repeated assessments via single-N designs for robust delineation of social-cognitive processes in the aging brain; (iv) increased representation of vulnerable aging populations in social-cognitive brain research to enhance diversity, promote generalizability, and allow for cross-population comparisons.

Neurocognition and social cognition in youth and young adults at ultra-high-risk for psychosis and bipolar disorder

BACKGROUND

Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are associated with significant deficits in neurocognition and social cognition. Unlike the studies in chronic stages of these disorders, very limited information is available regarding neurocognitive and social-cognitive impairment before the onset of bipolar disorder. Our main aim was to investigate the differences in neurocognition and social cognition between individuals at ultra-high risk for psychosis (UHR-P) and bipolar disorder (UHR-BD).

METHODS

This study included 152 help-seeking individuals identified as UHR-P (n = 78) and UHR-BD (n = 74), who were compared with a healthy control group (n = 43). A comprehensive neuropsychological battery was administered to all participants.

RESULTS

UHR-P was associated with widespread deficits in all neurocognitive and social-cognitive domains. Effect sizes (Cohen's d) of these deficits ranged from -0.57 to -1.34. UHR-BD was associated with significant deficits in processing speed, executive functions, sustained attention and social cognition (d = -0.48 to-0.70, p < 0.05). UHR-P performed significantly worse than UHR-BD in social cognition, processing speed, verbal memory and executive function domains (d = -0.39 to-0.64, p < 0.05). Negative symptoms were associated with impaired social cognition in the UHR-P group and verbal memory deficits in the UHR-BD group. Cognitive impairment was associated with functional impairment in both groups.

CONCLUSIONS

While UHR-P is associated with more widespread cognitive impairment, deficits in processing speed, executive functions, sustained attention and social cognition might be common features of both UHR groups. In early intervention services, cognition should be considered as a target for assessment and intervention not only for individuals at high risk for psychosis but also for bipolar disorder.

Assessing multimodal emotion recognition in multiple sclerosis with a clinically accessible measure

BACKGROUND

Multiple sclerosis (MS) negatively impacts cognition and has been associated with deficits in social cognition, including emotion recognition. There is a lack of research examining emotion recognition from multiple modalities in MS. The present study aimed to employ a clinically available measure to assess multimodal emotion recognition abilities among individuals with MS.

METHOD

Thirty-one people with MS and 21 control participants completed the Advanced Clinical Solutions Social Perceptions Subtest (ACS-SP), BICAMS, and measures of premorbid functioning, mood, and fatigue. ANCOVAs examined group differences in all outcomes while controlling for education. Correlational analyses examined potential correlates of emotion recognition in both groups.

RESULTS

The MS group performed significantly worse on the ACS-SP than the control group, F(1, 49) = 5.32, p = .025. Significant relationships between emotion recognition and cognitive functions were found only in the MS group, namely for information processing speed (r = 0.59, p < .001), verbal learning (r = 0.52, p = .003) and memory (r = 0.65, p < 0.001), and visuospatial learning (r = 0.62, p < 0.001) and memory (r = 0.52, p = .003). Emotion recognition did not correlate with premorbid functioning, mood, or fatigue in either group.

CONCLUSIONS

This study was the first to employ the ACS-SP to assess emotion recognition in MS. The results suggest that emotion recognition is impacted in MS and is related to other cognitive processes, such as information processing speed. The results provide information for clinicians amidst calls to include social cognition measures in standard MS assessments.

An ecological momentary cognitive assessment study of over-attribution of threat and suicide risk factors in people with serious mental illness

INTRODUCTION

People with serious mental illness (SMI; schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder) are at increased risk of suicidal ideation (SI). Over-attribution of social threat, or attributing threatening emotions to neutral faces, may contribute to social isolation through increased social avoidance and decreased social approach motivation. These factors are related to suicide, as well as perceived burdensomeness (PB) and thwarted belongingness (TB). This study examined how over-attribution of threat relates to PB, TB, and social motivations.

METHOD

N = 273 participants with SMI were assessed for current SI and behavior, and were stratified into SI (N = 130) vs. non-SI (N = 143) groups. Participants completed smartphone surveys (via ecological momentary assessments [EMA]) 3×/day for 10 days. They also completed the Mobile Ecological Test of Emotion Recognition (METER) 1×/day. Linear mixed models and multi-level mediation tested the relationships between over-attribution of threat, METER performance, PB/TB, and social motivations.

RESULTS

Participants with and without SI did not significantly differ in over-attribution of threat or METER performance. In separate models, there was a relationship of over-attribution of threat with increased PB (B = 1.00, SE = 0.21, t = 4.72, p < .001), reduced social approach motivation (B = -0.74, SE = 0.22, t = -3.33, p < .001), and increased social avoidance (B = 0.90, SE = 0.24, t = 3.70, p < .001), all significant when adjusting for facial affect recognition ability. A model examining social motivations as a mediator between over-attribution of threat and PB/TB was not significant.

CONCLUSION

These results suggest that over-attribution of threat relates to interpersonal constructs related to SI irrespective of facial affect abilities. This study may inform understanding of social cognitive processes related to suicide in SMI.

Eyes meet, hands greet: The art of timing in social interactions

Shaking hands is a fundamental form of social interaction. The current study used high-definition cameras during a university graduation ceremony to examine the temporal sequencing of eye contact and shaking hands. Analyses revealed that mutual gaze always preceded shaking hands. A follow up investigation manipulated gaze when shaking hands, and found that participants take significantly longer to accept a handshake when an outstretched hand precedes eye contact. These findings demonstrate that the timing between a person's gaze and their offer to shake hands is critical to how their action is interpreted.

Network dysfunction of sadness facial expression processing and morphometry in euthymic bipolar disorder

Facial emotion recognition (FER), including sadness, is altered in bipolar disorder (BD). However, the relationship between this impairment and the brain structure in BD is relatively unexplored. Furthermore, its association with clinical variables and with the subtypes of BD remains to be clarified. Twenty euthymic patients with BD type I (BD-I), 28 BD type II (BD-II), and 45 healthy controls completed a FER test and a 3D-T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging. Gray matter volume (GMV) of the cortico-limbic regions implicated in emotional processing was estimated and their relationship with FER performance was investigated using network analysis. Patients with BD-I had worse total and sadness-related FER performance relative to the other groups. Total FER performance was significantly negatively associated with illness duration and positively associated with global functioning in patients with BD-I. Sadness-related FER performance was also significantly negatively associated with the number of previous manic episodes. Network analysis showed a reduced association of the GMV of the frontal-insular-occipital areas in patients with BD-I, with a greater edge strength between sadness-related FER performance and amygdala GMV relative to controls. Our results suggest that FER performance, particularly for facial sadness, may be distinctively impaired in patients with BD-I. The pattern of reduced interrelationship in the frontal-insular-occipital regions and a stronger positive relationship between facial sadness recognition and the amygdala GMV in BD may reflect altered cortical modulation of limbic structures that ultimately predisposes to emotional dysregulation. Future longitudinal studies investigating the effect of mood state on FER performance in BD are warranted.

Direct reciprocity and reputation shape trust decisions similarly in blind and sighted individuals

This study addresses the effects of blindness on trust. Using an auditory version of the multi-round Trust Game, we investigated the effect of reputation and reciprocity on trust decisions in early blind and sighted participants. During each round of the game, participants were endowed with a sum of money and had to decide how much they wanted to invest in their partners, who were manipulated as a function of their good or bad reputation and individualistic or cooperative behavior. The data showed that negative first impression about the partner (bad reputation and/or selfish behavior) impacted more blind participants than sighted ones. However, following repeated interactions with the partners, the overall mean investment aligned between the blind and sighted groups. We interpret these findings as suggesting that blindness may guide participants to a more cautionary behavior when dealing with partners with negative initial characteristics.

Evidence for a multidimensional account of cognitive and affective theory of mind: A state-trace analysis

Theory of mind (ToM) has been argued to be a multidimensional construct, with ToM inferences depending on distinct processes across affective and cognitive ToM tasks and across first-order cognitive and second-order cognitive ToM tasks. Behavioural evidence for a multidimensional account has primarily depended on dissociations identified via analysis of variance, a statistical approach insufficient for assessing dimensionality. Instead, state-trace analysis (STA) is a more appropriate statistical technique to uncover dimensionality. The current study first applied STA to two summary datasets that had previously identified key dissociations between cognitive and affective ToM; these reanalyses did not support a multidimensional account of ToM. Next, STA was applied to a more detailed dataset to reveal whether ToM is based on multiple processes in a sample of 115 older adults aged 60-85 years (M = 68.5, SD = 5.92, 61.7% female) with higher or lower emotion perception ability. Participants made ToM judgements about different social exchanges (e.g., sarcasm or lying). STA results supported a multidimensional account of ToM across first-order cognitive, second-order cognitive, and affective ToM subdomains. These results lay a more rigorous foundation for subsequent studies to further examine the dimensionality of ToM and to apply formal modelling, progressing the field's understanding and measurement of the cognitive processes driving ToM judgements.

More than just changeability: Specific factors are used to explain the changeability of personality traits

Implicit theories and psychological essentialism are valuable frameworks used to model how changeable many traits are perceived to be. These frameworks, however, characterise changeability as a broad and generalised construct and do not fully capture the nuance and specificity involved in personality changeability. We therefore sought to deconstruct implicit theories about changeability into underlying more specific aspects of changeability. We measured how changeable people theorise personality traits to be according to three underlying specific factors: volitional control, context and age. We investigated how specific implicit theories about changeability vary across different personality traits. We show that two personality traits (agreeableness and conscientiousness) are linked to dissociable patterns of specific factors used to explain how changeable they are. These findings yield new insight into the way people explain why personality traits are changeable and demonstrate that different types of reasons are used to explain the changeability of agreeableness and conscientiousness.

Do dogs preferentially encode the identity of the target object or the location of others' actions?

The ability to make sense of and predict others' actions is foundational for many socio-cognitive abilities. Dogs (Canis familiaris) constitute interesting comparative models for the study of action perception due to their marked sensitivity to human actions. We tested companion dogs (N = 21) in two screen-based eye-tracking experiments, adopting a task previously used with human infants and apes, to assess which aspects of an agent's action dogs consider relevant to the agent's underlying intentions. An agent was shown repeatedly acting upon the same one of two objects, positioned in the same location. We then presented the objects in swapped locations and the agent approached the objects centrally (Experiment 1) or the old object in the new location or the new object in the old location (Experiment 2). Dogs' anticipatory fixations and looking times did not reflect an expectation that agents should have continued approaching the same object nor the same location as witnessed during the brief familiarization phase; this contrasts with some findings with infants and apes, but aligns with findings in younger infants before they have sufficient motor experience with the observed action. However, dogs' pupil dilation and latency to make an anticipatory fixation suggested that, if anything, dogs expected the agents to keep approaching the same location rather than the same object, and their looking times showed sensitivity to the animacy of the agents. We conclude that dogs, lacking motor experience with the observed actions of grasping or kicking performed by a human or inanimate agent, might interpret such actions as directed toward a specific location rather than a specific object. Future research will need to further probe the suitability of anticipatory looking as measure of dogs' socio-cognitive abilities given differences between the visual systems of dogs and primates.

A systematic review and meta-analysis of socio-cognitive impairments in multiple sclerose

Socio-cognitive impairment is frequent in multiple sclerosis (MS). However, little is known about the relationship between other potentially relevant clinical symptoms (i.e., cognition, depression, fatigue) and the degree of socio-cognitive impairment, and neural mechanisms underlying socio-cognitive deficits in MS. Therefore, we meta-analytically quantified socio-cognitive impairment in MS. A systematic literature search in MEDLINE Ovid, Web of Science Core Collection, CENTRAL, and PsycInfo was conducted until December 2022. Studies investigating affective or cognitive theory of mind (a/cToM), visual perspective taking (VPT) and social decision making (SDM) in MS patients relative to healthy controls were included. Risk-of-bias (RoB) was assessed using the CLARITY group "Tool for Assessing RoB in Cohort Studies". Mediation analysis investigated the contribution of clinical symptoms to socio-cognitive impairment. In total, n = 8534 studies were screened, 58 were included in the systematic review, 27 in the meta-analyses. Most studies were rated with a moderate RoB. Meta-analyses confirmed impairment of both aToM and cToM in MS patients, with larger effect sizes for aToM. Mediation analysis demonstrated that higher levels of fatigue selectively predicted the degree of cToM impairment. There was insufficient data available to quantify impairment in other socio-cognitive domains. Fourteen structural and functional imaging studies were identified and characterized by substantial heterogeneity. Summarized, this study confirmed substantial socio-cognitive impairment in MS and highlights the potential exacerbating role of comorbid clinical symptoms. We identify several evidence gaps that need to be addressed in future large-scale studies using comprehensive and coordinated assessments of socio-cognitive parameters, potential mediators, and neural correlates.Trial registration: The pre-registered review protocol can be assessed at www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/ (ID: CRD42020206225).

Female Cerebellum Seems Sociable; An iTBS Investigation

The cerebellum has been shown to be engaged in tasks other than motor control, including cognitive and affective functions. Prior neuroimaging studies have documented the role of this area in social cognition and despite these findings, no studies have yet examined the causal relationship between the cerebellum and social cognition. This study aimed to investigate the role of the cerebellum in empathy and theory of mind (ToM) in a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, parallel study. 32 healthy participants were assigned to either a sham or active group. For the active group, an intermittent theta-burst stimulation (iTBS) protocol at 100% of the motor threshold was applied to the cerebellum, while the control group received sham stimulation. An eyes-closed EEG session, the Empathy Quotient (EQ) test, and the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET) were administered before and after the iTBS session. The results demonstrated differences in cognitive empathy, ToM, and a decrease in the activity of the default mode network (DMN) between the active and sham groups in females. Females also showed a decrease in the activity of the affective empathy network and connectivity in the DMN. We conclude that cognitive empathy and ToM are associated with cerebellar activity, and due to sex-related differences in the cortical organization of this area which is modulated by sex hormones, the stimulation of the cerebellum in males and females yields different results.

Social cognition, socioeconomic status and subjective well-being of Chinese migrant workers

Subjective well-being is based on the unity of internal and external needs, as well as material and non-material needs. However, existing research lacks consideration of the impact of both objective material conditions and subjective psychological cognition on the subjective well-being of migrant workers. Thus, based on data from the 2017 China General Social Survey, this paper applies ordered logit models and OLS models to investigate the impact of social cognition and socioeconomic status on the subjective well-being of migrant workers and their intergenerational differences. The results indicate that: (1) Social cognition has a significant impact, and the impact of fairness perception is more pronounced than depression perception and class change perception; (2) among socioeconomic status, personal income did not have a significant effect as education level, car ownership and house property ownership; (3) there are intergenerational differences. The emotional state of the older generation is the most critical factor influencing their subjective well-being. In contrast, the new generation is more concerned with their feelings about future expectations. The older generation is more concerned with their house property ownership, while the increase in income, education and car ownership can significantly increase the subjective well-being of the new generation. For this reason, we believe that the Chinese government should gradually change the existing urban and rural management system to create a fair and just social environment; make migrant workers receive the same protection as urban residents and improve the income distribution mechanism; pay attention to the social security of the older generation of migrant workers and the development opportunities of the new generation of migrant workers and their ability to integrate into the city to improve their subjective well-being.

Suicide-related cognitions and emotional bias performance in a community sample

BACKGROUND

Suicide is theorized to be connected to social interactions and feelings of belongingness. Those with suicide-related cognitions (SRCs) demonstrate attentional bias toward negative or suicide-related words, which can lead to increased feelings of rejection or alienation. As social interactions employ both verbal and nonverbal cues, there exists a gap in understanding how perception of emotional expressions can contribute to the development or exacerbation of suicidal ideation.

METHODS

The current sample (N = 114, 60.5 % female, 74.6 % white) completed the Suicide Cognitions Scale-Revised (SCS-R) and Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) to assess SRCs and depression severity. The Emotional Bias Task (EBT) was used to assess emotional response latency.

RESULTS

Multiple regression analyses on EBT results showed that endorsement of SRCs and depression severity were not associated with any particular emotional response bias. However, presence of SRCs showed an association with longer latencies to identify ambiguous emotional expressions, even when controlling for depressive symptoms and age LIMITATIONS: Measures were self-completed online. Relative homogeneity of the sample and cross-sectional design limits interpretation of the results.

CONCLUSIONS

Those with more severe SRCs take longer to recognize positive, nonverbal cues. Irregular processing of positive emotional stimuli combined with bias toward negative verbal cues could worsen feelings of rejection or alienation in social interactions, therefore increasing risk of developing SI. This suggests that interventions focusing on allocation of attentional resources to process positive social cues may be beneficial for those with SRCs to reduce severity and risk of suicide.

Diverse adolescents' transcendent thinking predicts young adult psychosocial outcomes via brain network development

Developmental scientists have long described mid-adolescents' emerging capacities to make deep meaning about the social world and self, here called transcendent thinking, as a hallmark developmental stage. In this 5-years longitudinal study, sixty-five 14-18 years-old youths' proclivities to grapple psychologically with the ethical, systems-level and personal implications of social stories, predicted future increases in the coordination of two key brain networks: the default-mode network, involved in reflective, autobiographical and free-form thinking, and the executive control network, involved in effortful, focused thinking; findings were independent of IQ, ethnicity, and socioeconomic background. This neural development predicted late-adolescent identity development, which predicted young-adult self-liking and relationship satisfaction, in a developmental cascade. The findings reveal a novel predictor of mid-adolescents' neural development, and suggest the importance of attending to adolescents' proclivities to engage agentically with complex perspectives and emotions on the social and personal relevance of issues, such as through civically minded educational approaches.

Disrupted social perception in frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer's disease - Associated cognitive processes and clinical implications

BACKGROUND

Social perception refers to the ability to adapt and update one's behaviour in accordance with the current context and provides the foundation for many complex social and emotional interactions. Alterations in social cognition are a hallmark of the behavioural variant of frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD), yet the capacity for social perception in this syndrome remains unclear.

METHODS

We examined social perception in 18 bvFTD and 13 Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients, in comparison with 17 healthy older controls, using a social perception task derived from the Dewey Story Test. Participants also completed a comprehensive neuropsychological battery and carers provided ratings of behavioural and neuropsychiatric changes.

RESULTS

Overall, bvFTD and AD performance diverged significantly from control ratings on the social perception task, however, no significant difference was found between patient groups. Standardised values relative to the mean control rating revealed considerable variability within the patient groups in terms of the direction of deviation, i.e., over- or under-rating the vignettes relative to healthy controls (range z-scores = -1.79 to +1.63). Greater deviation from control ratings was associated with more pronounced memory (p = .007) and behavioural (p = .009) disturbances in bvFTD; whilst social perception performance correlated exclusively with verbal fluency in AD (p = .003).

CONCLUSIONS

Social perception is comparably disrupted in bvFTD and AD, yet likely reflects the differential breakdown of distinct cognitive processes in each dementia syndrome. Our findings have important clinical implications for the development of targeted interventions to manage disease-specific changes in social perception in dementia.

The evaluation study for social cognition measures in Japan: Psychometric properties, relationships with social function, and recommendations

AIM

Patients with schizophrenia can have significant subjective difficulties in social cognition, but few undergo testing or treatment for social cognition. The Social Cognition Psychometric Evaluation (SCOPE) study recommends six social cognitive measures; however, the reliability and validity of these measures in different cultural and linguistic areas has not been adequately examined. We examined the psychometric properties of nine social cognitive measures and the relationship to social function, with the aim of determining the level of recommendation for social cognitive measures in clinical practice in Japan.

METHODS

For our test battery, an expert panel previously selected nine measures: the Bell Lysaker Emotion Recognition Task (BLERT); Facial Emotion Selection Test (FEST); Hinting Task (Hinting); Metaphor and Sarcasm Scenario Test (MSST); Intentionality Bias Task (IBT); Ambiguous Intentions and Hostility Questionnaire (AIHQ); Social Attribution Task-Multiple Choice (SAT-MC); SAT-MCII; and Biological Motion (BM) task. In total, 121 outpatients with schizophrenia and 70 healthy controls were included in the analysis, and the results were provided to an expert panel to determine the recommendations for each measure. The quantitative psychological indices of each measure were evaluated for practicality, tolerability, test-retest reliability, correlation with social function, and the incremental validity of social function.

RESULTS

Hinting and FEST received the highest recommendations for use in screening, severity assessment, and longitudinal assessment, followed by BLERT, MSST AIHQ, SAT-MC, and SAT-MCII, with IBT and BM receiving the lowest recommendations.

CONCLUSION

This study provides a uniform assessment tool that can be used in future international clinical trials for social cognitive impairment.

The relationship between empathy, theory of mind and facial affect recognition in schizophrenia patients

Although impairments in social cognition are a core feature in schizophrenia, the relationship between its subcomponents is less clear. Nineteen schizophrenia patients and 20 matched healthy controls were tested for emotion recognition, and for the cognitive and affective subcomponents of empathy and theory of mind (ToM). Patients scored significantly worse than controls on cognitive empathy and both subcomponents of ToM. Group differences disappeared for cognitive empathy and affective ToM when emotion recognition was included as a covariate. Our results indicate that emotion recognition is an important factor involved in the deficits on higher levels of social cognition in schizophrenia.

Conducting head-mounted eye-tracking research with young children with autism and children with increased likelihood of later autism diagnosis

BACKGROUND

Over the past years, researchers have been using head-mounted eye-tracking systems to study young children's gaze behaviors in everyday activities through which children learn about the world. This method has great potential to further our understanding of how millisecond-level gaze behaviors create multisensory experiences and fluctuate around social environments. While this line of work can yield insight into early perceptual experiences and potential learning mechanisms, the majority of the work is exclusively conducted with typically-developing children. Sensory sensitivities, social-communication difficulties, and challenging behaviors (e.g., disruption, elopement) are common among children with developmental disorders, and they may represent potential methodological challenges for collecting high-quality data.

RESULTS

In this paper, we describe our research practices of using head-mounted eye trackers with 41 autistic children and 17 children with increased likelihood of later autism diagnosis without auditory or visual impairments, including those who are minimally or nonspeaking and/or have intellectual disabilities. The success rate in gathering data among children with autism was 92.68%. 3 of 41 children failed to complete the play-session, resulting in an 86.36% success rate among 1-4-year-olds and a 100.00% success rate among 5-8-year-olds. 1 of 17 children with increased likelihood of later autism diagnosis failed to complete the play-session, resulting in a success rate of 94.11%. There were numerous "challenging" behaviors relevant to the method. The most common challenging behaviors included taking the eye-tracking device off, elopement, and becoming distressed. Overall, among children with autism, 88.8% of 1-4-year-olds and 29.4% of 5-8-year-olds exhibited at least one challenging behavior.

CONCLUSIONS

Research capitalizing on this methodology has the potential to reveal early, socially-mediated gaze behaviors that are relevant for autism screening, diagnosis, and intervention purposes. We hope that our efforts in documenting our study methodology will help researchers and clinicians effectively study early naturally-occuring gaze behaviors of children during non-experimental contexts across the spectrum and other developmental disabilities using head-mounted eye-tracking. Ultimately, such applications may increase the generalizability of results, better reflect the diversity of individual characteristics, and offer new ways in which this method can contribute to the field.

The role of social cognition in mental health trajectories from childhood to adolescence

We investigated the association between an aspect of Theory of Mind in childhood, false-belief understanding, and trajectories of internalising (emotional and peer) and externalising (conduct and hyperactivity) problems in childhood and adolescence. The sample was 8408 children from the UK's Millennium Cohort Study, followed at ages 5, 7, 11, 14, and 17 years. Social cognitive abilities were measured at 5 and 7 years through a vignette version of the Sally-Anne task administered by an unfamiliar assessor in a socially demanding dyadic interaction. Internalising and externalising problems were measured via the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire at 7-17 years. Using latent growth modelling, and after controlling for sex, ethnicity, maternal education, verbal ability, and time-varying family income, we found that superior social cognitive abilities predicted a decrease in emotional problems over time. In sex-stratified analyses, they predicted decreasing conduct problem trajectories in females and lower levels of conduct problems at baseline in males.

Theory of mind in neurodevelopmental disorders: beyond autistic spectrum disorder

INTRODUCTION

Theory of mind (ToM) is the human ability to perceive, interpret, and attribute the mental states of other people, and the alteration of this cognitive function is a core symptom of autistic spectrum disorder (ASD). In such other neurodevelopmental disorders as childhood-onset obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and Tourette syndrome (TS) that can present with cognitive dysfunctions, ToM has been less extensively studied, especially in the young population. The aim of the study was to compare advanced ToM between groups of young people diagnosed with OCD, TS, or ASD and a control group.

METHODS

Clinical interviews were conducted with male patients aged between 11 and 17 years with a main diagnosis of OCD (n = 19), TS (n = 14), or ASD (n = 18), and a control group (n = 20). We administered instruments for estimating intelligence quotient and severity of psychiatric symptoms, and tasks to evaluate ToM (the "Stories from everyday life" task and the "Reading the mind in the eyes" test).

RESULTS

Young people with TS and with ASD present similar difficulties in solving advanced ToM tasks, whereas patients with childhood-onset OCD present similar results to controls.

CONCLUSIONS

ToM is altered in other neurodevelopmental disorders beyond ASD, such as TS.

Beyond empathy: Cognitive capabilities increase or curb altruism in middle childhood

Altruistic behavior, which intentionally benefits a recipient without expectation of a reward or at a cost to the actor, is observed throughout the lifespan from everyday interactions to emergency situations. Empathy has long been considered a major driver of altruistic action, but the social information processing model supports the idea that other cognitive processes may also play a role in altruistic intention and behavior. Our aim was to investigate how visual analysis, attention, inhibitory control, and theory of mind capabilities uniquely contribute to predicting altruistic intention and behavior in a sample of 67 French children (35 girls and 32 boys; Mage = 9.92 ± 0.99 years) from Paris and neighboring suburbs. Using a Bayesian analysis framework, we showed that in younger grade levels visual analysis and selective attention are strong predictors of altruistic intention and that inhibitory control strongly predicts altruistic behavior in a dictator game. Processes underlying theory of mind, however, negatively predict altruistic behavior in the youngest grade. In higher grade levels, we found that stronger attention and inhibitory control predicts lower altruistic intention and behavior. Empathy was not found to predict altruistic intention or behavior. These results suggest that different cognitive capabilities are involved in altruistic intention and behavior and that their contribution changes throughout middle childhood as social constraints deepen and altruism calls on more complex reasoning.

Diminished Adaptation, Satisfaction, and Neural Responses to Advantageous Social Signals in Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa

BACKGROUND

Development and recurrence of 2 eating disorders (EDs), anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, are frequently associated with environmental stressors. Neurobehavioral responses to social learning signals were evaluated in both EDs.

METHODS

Women with anorexia nervosa (n = 25), women with bulimia nervosa (n = 30), or healthy comparison women (n = 38) played a neuroeconomic game in which the norm shifted, generating social learning signals (norm prediction errors [NPEs]) during a functional magnetic resonance imaging scan. A Bayesian logistic regression model examined how the probability of offer acceptance depended on cohort, block, and NPEs. Rejection rates, emotion ratings, and neural responses to NPEs were compared across groups.

RESULTS

Relative to the comparison group, both ED cohorts showed less adaptation (p = .028, ηp2 = 0.060), and advantageous signals (positive NPEs) led to higher rejection rates (p = .014, ηp2 = 0.077) and less positive emotion ratings (p = .004, ηp2 = 0.111). Advantageous signals increased neural activations in the orbitofrontal cortex for the comparison group but not for women with anorexia nervosa (p = .018, d = 0.655) or bulimia nervosa (p = .043, d = 0.527). More severe ED symptoms were associated with decreased activation of dorsomedial prefrontal cortex for advantageous signals.

CONCLUSIONS

Diminished neural processing of advantageous social signals and impaired norm adaptation were observed in both anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, while no differences were found for disadvantageous social signals. Development of neurocognitive interventions to increase responsivity to advantageous social signals could augment current treatments, potentially leading to improved clinical outcomes for EDs.

Individual Differences in Older Adult Frontal Lobe Function Relate to Memory and Neural Activity for Self-Relevant and Emotional Content

OBJECTIVES

Older adults show memory benefits for self-relevant and emotional content, but there are individual differences in this effect. It has been debated whether processing of self-relevant and emotional information relies on similar processes to one another. We examined whether variation in frontal lobe (FL) function among older adults related similarly to the processing of self-relevant information as it did to emotional information, or whether these relations diverged.

METHODS

While undergoing fMRI, participants (ages 60-88) viewed positive, negative, and neutral objects, and imagined placing those objects in either their home or a stranger's home. Participants completed a surprise memory test outside of the MRI. In a separate session, a cognitive battery was collected and composite scores measuring FL and medial temporal lobe function were computed and related to the behavioral memory performance and the neural engagement during fMRI.

RESULTS

Behaviorally, FL function related to memory for self-relevant, but not emotional content. Older adults with higher FL function demonstrated reduced self-bias in memory performance. During the processing of self-relevant stimuli, independent of emotion, levels of activity in the middle frontal gyrus showed positive associations with FL function. This relationship was not driven by compensatory activity or disruptions to nonself-relevant neutral content.

DISCUSSION

These findings point to divergence in the cognitive functions relating to memory enhancements for self- and emotional-relevance. The results further suggest self-relevance as a mnemonic device for older adults, especially in those with lower FL function.

Social cognition and behavioral changes in patients with posterior cortical atrophy

Posterior cortical atrophy (PCA) is a rare neurodegenerative condition characterized by progressive visual and visuospatial dysfunction. The consensus criteria state that patients should present "relatively spared behavior and personality" in early stages. However, limited research has focused on these symptoms in PCA. This study compared 157 patients with PCA in early stages of the disease with 352 healthy controls (HC), 202 typical AD (tAD), and 177 logopenic variant primary progressive aphasia (lvPPA) patients from the National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center (NACC) dataset. They were compared using clinician ratings of behavioral symptoms, informant- and clinician-filled questionnaires and patient-facing tests of behavior and social cognition. Results showed that PCA individuals exhibited many behavioral symptoms, the more frequently reported being anxiety, depression, apathy, and irritability. During cognitive testing, clinicians observed disorganized and reactive behaviors, but no insensitive behaviors. Informant reports indicated that PCA patients exhibited higher levels of inhibition and anxiety in response to stimuli associated with non-reward, novelty, and punishment. Social norms knowledge and empathy were overall preserved, although slight decreases in perspective-taking and socioemotional sensitivity were observed on informant-rated questionnaires. Except for more elevated neuropsychiatric symptoms in tAD, the three AD variants had similar profiles. Our findings provide insights into the social cognition and behavioral profiles of PCA, highlighting patterns of preservations and mild impairments, even in the early stages of the disease. These results contribute to a more complete understanding of non-visual symptoms in PCA and have implications for diagnostic and intervention strategies.

Comparing data quality from an online and in-person lab sample on dynamic theory of mind tasks

Nearly half the published research in psychology is conducted with online samples, but the preponderance of these studies rely primarily on self-report measures. The current study validated data quality from an online sample on a novel, dynamic task by comparing performance between an in-lab and online sample on two dynamic measures of theory of mind-the ability to infer others' mental states. Theory of mind is a cognitively complex construct that has been widely studied across multiple domains of psychology. One task was based on the show The Office®, and has been previously validated by the authors with in-lab samples. The second was a novel task based on the show Nathan for You®, which was selected to account for familiarity effects associated with The Office. Both tasks measured various dimensions of theory of mind (inferring beliefs, understanding motivations, detecting deception, identifying faux pas, and understanding emotions). The in-person lab samples (N = 144 and 177, respectively) completed the tasks between-subject, whereas the online sample (N = 347 from Prolific Academic) completed them within-subject, with order counterbalanced. The online sample's performance across both tasks was reliable (Cronbach's α = .66). For The Office, the in-person sample outperformed the online sample on some types of theory of mind, but this was driven by their greater familiarity with the show. Indeed, for the relatively unfamiliar show Nathan for You, performance did not differ between the two samples. Together, these results suggest that crowdsourcing platforms elicit reliable performance on novel, dynamic, complex tasks.

Normative values and diagnostic optimisation of three social cognition measures for autism and schizophrenia diagnosis in a healthy adolescent and adult sample

Awareness of the importance of assessing social cognition skills under conditions showing atypical social behaviours has increased over the years. However, the evaluation of the psychometric properties of the measures and the availability of normative values for the clinical context are still limited. This study aims to revise, provide normative values, and evaluate the clinical validity of the Italian version of three social cognition measures: Advanced Theory of Mind (A-ToM) task, the Emotion Attribution Task (EAT), and the Social Situation Task (SST). Measures were administered to 580 adolescents and adult healthy controls (age range 14-50). We performed differential item functioning and Rasch analysis to revise each task, so normative data of the revised measures were calculated. Moreover, the revised measures were administered to 38 individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and 35 individuals with schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD): ASD and SSD were matched by age, gender, and IQ with a control sample to evaluate clinical validity. ROC analysis showed that the SST is the best measure differentiating between healthy and clinical groups, compared to the A-ToM (AUCASD = 0.70; AUCSSD = 0.65) and EAT (AUCASD = 0.67; AUCSSD = 0.50), which showed poorer performance. For SSD diagnosis, two SST subscales (Violation and Gravity score) indicated the best accuracy (AUCs of 0.88 and 0.84, respectively); for the ASD diagnosis, we propose a combined score between the SST subscale and A-ToM (AUC = 0.86). The results suggest that the proposed measures can be used to support the diagnostic process and clinical practice.

TANGO: A reliable, open-source, browser-based task to assess individual differences in gaze understanding in 3 to 5-year-old children and adults

Traditional measures of social cognition used in developmental research often lack satisfactory psychometric properties and are not designed to capture variation between individuals. Here, we present the TANGO (Task for Assessing iNdividual differences in Gaze understanding-Open); a brief (approx. 5-10min), reliable, open-source task to quantify individual differences in the understanding of gaze cues. Localizing the attentional focus of an agent is crucial in inferring their mental states, building common ground, and thus, supporting cooperation. Our interactive browser-based task works across devices and enables in-person and remote testing. The implemented spatial layout allows for discrete and continuous measures of participants' click imprecision and is easily adaptable to different study requirements. Our task measures inter-individual differences in a child (N = 387) and an adult (N = 236) sample. Our two study versions and data collection modes yield comparable results that show substantial developmental gains: the older children are, the more accurately they locate the target. High internal consistency and test-retest reliability estimates underline that the captured variation is systematic. Associations with social-environmental factors and language skills speak to the validity of the task. This work shows a promising way forward in studying individual differences in social cognition and will help us explore the structure and development of our core social-cognitive processes in greater detail.

Construct validity evidence reporting practices for the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test: A systematic scoping review

The Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET) is one of the most influential measures of social cognitive ability, and it has been used extensively in clinical populations. However, questions have been raised about the validity of RMET scores. We conducted a systematic scoping review of the validity evidence reported in studies that administered the RMET (n = 1461; of which 804 included at least one clinical sample) with a focus on six key dimensions: internal consistency, test-retest reliability, factor structure, convergent validity, discriminant validity, and known group validity. Strikingly, 63% of these studies failed to provide validity evidence from any of these six categories. Moreover, when evidence was reported, it frequently failed to meet widely accepted validity standards. Overall, our results suggest a troubling conclusion: the validity of RMET scores (and the research findings based on them) are largely unsubstantiated and uninterpretable. More broadly, this project demonstrates how unaddressed measurement issues can undermine a voluminous psychological literature.

The deflationary model of harm and moral wrongdoing: A rejoinder to Royzman & Borislow

With a series of studies, Royzman and Borislow (2022) purport to show that extant models about the conditions under which harmful actions are deemed morally wrong do not have explanatory power-for any proposed condition, various harmful actions meet the condition but are not deemed immoral. And they reach the following conclusion: judgments of moral wrongdoing in the context of harmful actions (or judgments of moral wrongdoing more generally) are not reducible to an explanatory template. However, they did not address the main claim of the deflationary model of harm and moral wrongdoing, which is that intuitions of injustice connect harmful actions to judgments of moral wrongdoing (Sousa & Piazza, 2014). Our first study adjusts Royzman and Borislow' design to include a measure of perceived injustice, while our second elaborates their design to manipulate perceived injustice. The results undermine their conclusion and support the deflationary model, which we further refine here in light of the results of Royzman and Borislow's studies and ours.

Neurorestorative effects of cerebellar transcranial direct current stimulation on social prediction of adolescents and young adults with congenital cerebellar malformations

BACKGROUND

Converging evidence points to impairments of the predictive function exerted by the cerebellum as one of the causes of the social cognition deficits observed in patients with cerebellar disorders.

OBJECTIVE

We tested the neurorestorative effects of cerebellar transcranial direct current stimulation (ctDCS) on the use of contextual expectations to interpret actions occurring in ambiguous sensory sceneries in a sample of adolescents and young adults with congenital, non-progressive cerebellar malformation (CM).

METHODS

We administered an action prediction task in which, in an implicit-learning phase, the probability of co-occurrence between actions and contextual elements was manipulated to form either strongly or moderately informative expectations. Subsequently, in a testing phase, we probed the use of these contextual expectations for predicting ambiguous (i.e., temporally occluded) actions. In a sham-controlled, within-subject design, participants received anodic or sham ctDCS during the task.

RESULTS

Anodic ctDCS, compared to sham, improved patients' ability to use contextual expectations to predict the unfolding of actions embedded in moderately, but not strongly, informative contexts.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings corroborate the role of the cerebellum in using previously learned contextual associations to predict social events and document the efficacy of ctDCS to boost social prediction in patients with congenital cerebellar malformation. The study encourages the further exploration of ctDCS as a neurorestorative tool for the neurorehabilitation of social cognition abilities in neurological, neuropsychiatric, and neurodevelopmental disorders featured by macro- or micro-structural alterations of the cerebellum.

Social cognition in adult survivors of brain tumors: studying the relationship between theory of mind and quality of life

OBJECTIVE

The present study is the first to examine theory of mind (ToM) sequelae in a sample of adult survivors of primary brain tumors, and to investigate the assumed relationship between ToM and health-related quality of life (HRQoL).

METHOD

Participants were 40 long-term adult survivors of primary brain tumors and 40 matched healthy controls. They completed ToM tests (Faux-Pas test and Advanced ToM task) and two questionnaires assessing HRQoL (36-Item Short-Form Health Survey and EORTC QLQ-C30/QLQ-BN20). Their relatives also completed an observer-rated version of the SF-36 questionnaire.

RESULTS

Survivors performed worse than controls only on the Advanced ToM task. Overall, patients and caregivers reported more problems than healthy controls and their relatives regarding both global HRQoL and its social/emotional aspects. No relationship was found between ToM and HRQoL scores.

CONCLUSION

Adult survivors of primary brain tumors may exhibit ToM deficits several years after treatment and report more problems on social/emotional HRQoL components. Our findings highlight the need to consider these late effects in survivors' long-term follow-up, even if the clinical involvement of ToM deficits still needs to be elucidated. The assessment of ToM deficits and their potential impact on survivors' everyday life is thoroughly discussed.

Examining the Process and Impact of Social Problem Solving in Autistic Children

Social problem solving (SPS) represents a social cognitive reasoning process that gives way to behavior when individuals are navigating challenging social situations. Autistic individuals have been shown to struggle with specific aspects of SPS, which, in turn, has been related to social difficulties in children. However, no previous work has measured how SPS components not only relate to one another but also discretely and conjointly predict autism-related symptoms and social difficulties in autistic children, specifically. Fifty-eight autistic children (44 male; 6-10 years old, Mage=8.67, SDage=1.31) completed a self-administered, computerized assessment of SPS. To elucidate how SPS components discretely, and combined, contribute to autism-related symptoms and social difficulties, commonality analyses were conducted for each measure assessing autism-related symptoms and social difficulties. Socially normative problem identification, goal preference, and solution preference were related to fewer parent-reported autism-related social difficulties. Measures related to autism symptomatology, social perspective taking, and emotion recognition were not significantly associated with discrete SPS components in this sample. The problem identification aspect of SPS contributed the most unique variance to parent-reported autism-related social difficulties, while shared variance across all SPS components accounted for substantial variance in both parent-reported autism-related social difficulties models. Results suggest that SPS components are interrelated, but distinct, constructs in the autistic population. These findings not only further clarify the impact of SPS components on autism-related symptoms and social difficulties, but also have implications for refining SPS-focused interventions in the autistic population.

Atypical social cognition processing in bulimia nervosa: an fMRI study of patients thinking of others' mental states

BACKGROUND

Feeding and eating disorders are severe mental disorders that gravely affect patients' lives. In particular, patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) or bulimia nervosa (BN) appear to have poor social cognition. Many studies have shown the relationship between poor social cognition and brain responses in AN. However, few studies have examined the relationship between social cognition and BN. Therefore, we examined which brain regions impact the ability for social cognition in patients with BN.

METHODS

We used task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine brain responses during a social cognition task and the Reading Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET). During the fMRI, 22 women with BN and 22 healthy women (HW) took the RMET. Participants also completed the eating disorder clinical measures Bulimic Investigatory Test, Edinburgh (BITE) and Eating Disorders Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q), the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) measure of depression; and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) measure of anxiety.

RESULTS

No difference was observed in the RMET scores between women with BN and HW. Both groups showed activation in brain regions specific to social cognition. During the task, no differences were shown between the groups in the BOLD signal (p < 0.05, familywise error corrected for multiple comparisons). However, there was a tendency of more robust activation in the right angular gyrus, ventral diencephalon, thalamus proper, temporal pole, and middle temporal gyrus in BN (p < 0.001, uncorrected for multiple comparisons). Moreover, HW showed a positive correlation between RMET scores and the activation of two regions: medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC); however, no significant correlation was observed in women with BN.

CONCLUSIONS

While activation in the mPFC and ACC positively correlated to the RMET scores in HW, no correlation was observed in BN patients. Therefore, women with BN might display modulated neural processing when thinking of others' mental states. Further examination is needed to investigate neural processing in BN patients to better understand their social cognition abilities.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

UMIN, UMIN000010220. Registered 13 March 2013, https://rctportal.niph.go.jp/s/detail/um?trial_id=UMIN000010220.

Conflict monitoring and emotional processing in 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) and methamphetamine users - A comparative neurophysiological study

In stimulant use and addiction, conflict control processes are crucial for regulating substance use and sustaining abstinence, which can be particularly challenging in social-affective situations. Users of methamphetamine (METH, "Ice") and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, "Ecstasy") both experience impulse control deficits, but display different social-affective and addictive profiles. We thus aimed to compare the effects of chronic use of the substituted amphetamines METH and MDMA on conflict control processes in different social-affective contexts (i.e., anger and happiness) and investigate their underlying neurophysiological mechanisms. For this purpose, chronic but recently abstinent users of METH (n = 38) and MDMA (n = 42), as well as amphetamine-naïve healthy controls (n = 83) performed an emotional face-word Stroop paradigm, while event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded. Instead of substance-specific differences, both MDMA and METH users showed smaller behavioral effects of cognitive-emotional conflict processing (independently of emotional valence) and selective deficits in emotional processing of anger content. Both effects were underpinned by stronger P3 ERP modulations suggesting that users of substituted amphetamines employ altered stimulus-response mapping and decision-making. Given that these processes are modulated by noradrenaline and that both MDMA and METH use may be associated with noradrenergic dysfunctions, the noradrenaline system may underlie the observed substance-related similarities. Better understanding the functional relevance of this currently still under-researched neurotransmitter and its functional changes in chronic users of substituted amphetamines is thus an important avenue for future research.

Corpus callosum microstructural organization mediates the effects of physical neglect on social cognition in schizophrenia

Exposure to early life adversity is associated with both increased risk of developing schizophrenia and poorer performance on measures of social cognitive functioning. In this study, we examined whether interleukin-6 (IL-6) and Corpus Callosum (CC) microstructure mediated the association between childhood physical neglect and social cognition. Fifty-eight patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia were included. The CANTAB emotion recognition task (unbiased hit rate) was used to assess social cognition. We found that the microstructural organization of the CC significantly mediated the association between physical neglect and emotion recognition. Furthermore, in a sequential mediation analysis that also considered the role of inflammatory response, the association between physical neglect, and lower emotion recognition performance was sequentially mediated by higher IL-6 and lower fractional anisotropy of the CC. This mediating effect of IL-6 was only present when simultaneously considering the effects of CC microstructural organization and remained significant while controlling for the effects of sex, BMI and medication dosage (but not age). Overall, the findings suggest that the association between physical neglect and poorer emotion recognition in schizophrenia occurs, at least in part, via its association with white matter microstructure.