How social cognition deficits affect psychopathology: A neuroscientific approach

Abstract

Humans are substantially a social species. Effective mental treatment cannot be obtained without addressing social behavior. Social cognition refers to the mental processes underlying social interactions, which allow individuals to make sense of the other peoples' behavior, to decipher emotions on their faces, and to draw conclusions about their intentions. The core domains of this multifaceted concept are theory of mind, social cue perception, attributional style and emotion perception/ processing. The amygdala, orbital frontal cortex and temporal cortex areas are typically activated during the processing of information within social-emotional context. The aforementioned brain areas are recognized as the major components of the so-called 'social brain'- specialized for the social interactions in humans. Adequate perceiving and processing of the social information is essential for an effective social functioning, which becomes obvious when it goes awry. Various psychiatric disorders are characterized by social cognitive deficits, among which schizophrenias, depression-anxiety and autism spectrum disorders were most broadly studied to date. Growing evidence suggest that these deficits underlie poor functional outcomes in patients with mental health impairments and have an important role in the initiation and maintenance of the disorders' symptoms. One of the most important goals of social neuroscience research is to provide a treatment intervention that will improve patients' social cognitive skills and the functional outcome. All together, the present review aims to provide a contemporary overview of the concept of social cognition, to outline its relation to psychopathology, and to discuss the implications for clinical practice and treatment.