The Awareness Of Social Inference Test Research Articles

A - 131 Social Adjustment and Functioning in Serious Mental Illness Is Predicted by Social Cognition.

Deficits in social cognition (SC) and social functioning (SF) are prominent in schizophrenia. This study used standardized assessments to examine SC and SF to determine if similar deficits are present in persons diagnosed with bipolar disorders. The Awareness of Social Inference Test (TASIT) was used to assess emotion identification and social inference, and the Social Functioning Scale (SFS) to assess SF domains (Social Engagement, Interpersonal Communication, Independent Performance, Independent Competence, Recreation, Prosocial, and Employment). The TASIT and SFS were administered to individuals with schizophrenia (SZ; N = 22), bipolar disorder with psychotic features (BP+; N = 20) or without psychotic features (BP-; N = 21), and healthy controls (HC; N = 22). Mixed model ANOVA examined group differences and multiple regression determined if SC predicted SF. The SZ group showed significantly worse SF compared to all other groups. There was no significant difference between the BP+ and BP-, and both BP groups performed worse than HCs. For multiple regression, the three clinical groups (SZ, BP+, BP-) were combined to yield an overall SMI group (N = 63). TASIT emotion identification and social inference predicted performance on SFS domains of Independent Performance, Independent Competence, Recreation, Prosocial, and SFS total score. Emotion identification was the strongest predictor of the Independent Performance domain in comparison to social inference. Performance on the TASIT predicted performance across several domains of SF in SMI. Differences were present based on the specific SC abilities and SF domains, suggesting SC abilities are more strongly associated with some functional domains but not others, which may help guide clinical decision making.

A - 132 Social Cognition Predicts Functional Outcomes in Serious Mental Illness.

Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are leading causes of functional disability worldwide. Difficulty completing instrumental and more routine activities of daily living is one of the most limiting and overlooked features of these disorders. The current study investigated whether deficits in social cognition are associated with increased functional disability in overall serious mental illness (SMI). Individuals with schizophrenia (SZ; N = 22), bipolar disorder with psychotic features (BP+; N = 20) and without psychotic features (BP-; N = 21), and healthy controls (HC; N = 22) completed The Awareness of Social Inference Test (TASIT) to examine emotion identification and social inference, and The University of California, San Diego Performance-Based Skills Assessment (UPSA) to assess functional capacity. A mixed model ANOVA was performed to examine group differences and multiple regression was used to determine if social cognition predicted social functioning. The SZ group showed significantly worse UPSA functional performance compared to all other groups. The three diagnostic groups (SZ, BP+, BP-) were merged to yield an overall SMI group (N = 63). Multiple regressions indicated TASIT emotion identification and social inference predicted UPSA functioning in household maintenance, communication, finance management, and planning. Social inference was the strongest predictor of overall UPSA functioning, compared to emotion identification. TASIT scores predicted performance across several domains of functioning in SMI. Since functional outcomes are a strong indicator of clinical recovery throughout the course of SMI, additional research may investigate the role that social cognitive abilities play in this recovery.

A - 51 The Interaction of Social Cognition Deficits and Personality Change in Progressive Supranuclear Palsy.

Small studies have suggested individuals with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) may have socioemotional deficits (i.e., poor emotion recognition and mentalizing). However, consideration has not been given to the interplay of social cognition and personality changes. The present study used multiple personality and social cognition measures to identify neurologically-driven socioemotional changes in PSP. Data was collected from 177 individuals: 77 with PSP and 100 older healthy controls (HC). The Awareness of Social Inference Test (TASIT) measures patients' comprehension of emotional videos (Emotion Evaluation Test: EET) and everyday social interactions (Social Inference Enriched: SI-E). Premorbid and current personality was reported by informants using the Interpersonal Adjectives Scale (IAS) and the Big Five Inventory (BFI). Groups were compared controlling for age and sex; statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. PSPs displayed impairment in reading emotions on the TASIT-EET (M:9.1 ± SD:2.66) and inferring others' intentions on the TASIT-SIE (44.8 ± 6.12) compared to HCs (11.5 ± 1.48; 53.8 ± 4.94). PSPs showed clinically (-1.5 SD) and statistically significant drops from premorbid levels in Extraversion (IAS current T: 37.0 ± 16.28; BFI: 20.1 ± 5.80) and IAS Dominance (39.9 ± 13.54). PSP patients showed significant deficits at multiple levels of emotion reading and theory of mind, impairing their comprehension of social communication. This may in turn explain the observed declines in interpersonal dominance and extraversion, possibly reflecting loss of agency and sociableness with disease progression. These results reveal more clinically significant socioemotional deficits in PSP than are generally recognized, and suggest face-to-face social testing and informant reports of personality change can be valuable testing approaches.

A - 130 Differences in Emotion Identification in Schizophrenia, Bipolar with or without Psychosis, and Healthy Controls.

Research suggests individuals with schizophrenia and bipolar with psychotic features have difficulty accurately identifying emotions expressed by others. Such findings raise questions to whether impairments in emotion identification are better explained by the presence of psychosis, regardless of diagnosis. The Emotion Evaluation Test (EET) of The Awareness of Social Inference Test (TASIT) was administered to individuals with schizophrenia (SZ; N = 22), bipolar disorder with psychotic features (BP+; N = 20), bipolar disorder without psychotic features (BP-; N = 21), and healthy controls (HC; N = 22). The EET comprises 24 video vignettes portraying happiness, surprise, sadness, anger, fear, disgust, and neutral emotions. Participants were prompted to identify the emotion in each vignette. Emotion identification of positive, negative, and neutral emotions was compared between groups. Group comparisons showed that the SZ group performed significantly worse than the other groups when identifying positive and negative emotions. The BP+ group performed significantly worse than BP- and HC when identifying negative emotions. No significant differences were found in neutral emotion identification between groups. The BP+ group was less accurate in identifying negative emotions but not positive emotions compared to the BP- and HC groups. Further investigation is required to determine factors that contribute to this differential performance.

A protocol for the development and validation of a virtual reality-based clinical test of social cognition

BackgroundImpairments in social cognition are common after traumatic brain injury (TBI) and may have severe negative consequences for patients and their families. Most tests of social cognition have limited ecological validity due to simplistic and contrived social stimuli with limited relevance to everyday social functioning. There is a need for measures of social cognition that reflect the dynamic, multimodal and contextualized nature of social situations and that predict real-world functioning. Three hundred sixty–degree (360°) Virtual Reality (VR) video can increase ecological validity through enhanced social presence, or a sense of “being there”. This paper describes the development and protocol design for validation of a Norwegian VR-version of The Awareness of Social Inference Test (TASIT), which is a widely used video-based test of social cognition.MethodsDevelopment of VR TASIT included filming 61 short videos depicting social interactions in both VR and desktop format, using a 360° camera. Software for standardized test administration and collection of performance data was developed in Unity, for administration on both VR and desktop interface. The validation study will test the reliability and validity of VR TASIT in participants with TBI (n = 100) and healthy controls (n = 100). Half of the participants will perform the desktop version, and the other half the VR version. Analyses will include known groups validity, convergent and divergent validity, as well as test–retest reliability of VR TASIT. A comparison of the ability of TASIT VR and desktop versions to predict real-world functioning (ecological validity) will be explored using the Social Skills Questionnaire for TBI and La Trobe Communication Questionnaire. Finally, the levels of perceived social presence of the stimulus materials and prevalence of cybersickness after exposure to the virtual environment will be documented.DiscussionIt is expected that VR TASIT will have comparable or better psychometric properties than the desktop version, and that the hypothesized increased level of social presence experienced in a virtual environment will result in improved ecological validity. More broadly, benefits and limitations of using VR video as stimulus material in assessment of social cognition and considerations for future development and clinical validation are discussed.Trial registrationThe study protocol was pre-registered in ClinicalTrials (April 4th 2022, NCT05309005). The study was retrospectively registered in Open Science Framework (December 15th 2022, osf.io/2vem8).

Assessing Social Cognition Across Dementia Subtypes (P6-6.004)

<h3>Objective:</h3> In this study, we aim to determine the clinical utility of bedside social cognition assessments in the diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia (FTD). We hypothesized that patients with FTD would score lower compared to patients with other neuropsychiatric disorders and healthy controls. <h3>Background:</h3> Although social cognition is selectively impaired in FTD, it is not routinely assessed in clinical evaluations, leading to frequent misdiagnoses such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and primary psychiatric disorders (PPD). <h3>Design/Methods:</h3> We created a battery of social cognition assessments that provide a comprehensive measurement of each patient’s social cognition, including degree of empathy, ability to identify emotions in others, and capacity to interpret social cues. The battery includes the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), the Mini-Social Cognition and Emotional Assessment (mini-SEA), and The Awareness of Social Inference Test (TASIT-S). The battery was administered to 60 patients, including patients with FTD (n=11), AD (n=18), vascular dementia (VD) (n=9), Lewy Body Dementia (DLB) (n=3), PPD (n=9), and 10 healthy controls (HC). We then calculated the averages in assessment scores for comparison across subgroups (FTD, AD, VD, DLB, PPD, and HC). <h3>Results:</h3> Patients with FTD had lower scores across all assessments. On the IRI, the average score for FTD patients was 49.3 ±6.80 compared to AD (67.8), VD (57.2), DLB (58.7), PPD (62.1), and HC (69.6). The average score on the Mini-SEA was 25.2 ±2.98 for FTD patients compared to AD (30.3), VD (30.3), DLB (30.0), PPD (30.4), and HC (33.5). The average total score on the TASIT-S for FTD patients was 24.2 ±1.93 compared to AD (26.0), VD (24.2), DLB (24.2), PPD (26.8), and HC (29.5). <h3>Conclusions:</h3> The FTD subgroup consistently scored lower on all assessments in the social cognition battery, demonstrating the potential for bedside social cognition assessments for early diagnosis of FTD. <b>Disclosure:</b> Miss Lorino has received personal compensation for serving as an employee of Tulane University. The institution of Miss Lorino has received research support from National Institutes of Health. Ms. Yang has nothing to disclose. Ms. Covaciu has nothing to disclose. The institution of Dr. Seibert has received research support from Retirement Research Foundation. The institution of Dr. Seibert has received research support from Center for Healthcare Delivery Science and Innovation.

Co-Occurring Autism Spectrum and Borderline Personality Disorder: An Emerging Clinical Challenge Seeking Informed Interventions.

Co-Occurring Autism Spectrum and Borderline Personality Disorder: An Emerging Clinical Challenge Seeking Informed Interventions.

Disruption of early visual processing in amyloid-positive healthy individuals and mild cognitive impairment

BackgroundAmyloid deposition is a primary predictor of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and related neurodegenerative disorders. Retinal changes involving the structure and function of the ganglion cell layer are increasingly documented in both established and prodromal AD. Visual event-related potentials (vERP) are sensitive to dysfunction in the magno- and parvocellular visual systems, which originate within the retinal ganglion cell layer. The present study evaluates vERP as a function of amyloid deposition in aging, and in mild cognitive impairment (MCI).MethodsvERP to stimulus-onset, motion-onset, and alpha-frequency steady-state (ssVEP) stimuli were obtained from 16 amyloid-positive and 41 amyloid-negative healthy elders and 15 MCI individuals and analyzed using time–frequency approaches. Social cognition was assessed in a subset of individuals using The Awareness of Social Inference Test (TASIT).ResultsNeurocognitively intact but amyloid-positive participants and MCI individuals showed significant deficits in stimulus-onset (theta) and motion-onset (delta) vERP generation relative to amyloid-negative participants (all p < .01). Across healthy elders, a composite index of these measures correlated highly (r = − .52, p < .001) with amyloid standardized uptake value ratios (SUVR) and TASIT performance. A composite index composed of vERP measures significant differentiated amyloid-positive and amyloid-negative groups with an overall classification accuracy of > 70%.DiscussionvERP may assist in the early detection of amyloid deposition among older individuals without observable neurocognitive impairments and in linking previously documented retinal deficits in both prodromal AD and MCI to behavioral impairments in social cognition.

Exploring neuropsychological underpinnings of poor communication after traumatic brain injury: The role of apathy, disinhibition and social cognition.

Dysarthria, aphasia and executive processes have been examined for their role in producing impaired communicative competence post traumatic brain injury (TBI). Less understood is the role of emotional dysregulation, that is, apathy and disinhibition, and social cognition, that is, reading and interpreting social cues. In this study, we examined 49 adults with moderate to severe TBI and 18 neurologically healthy adults. We hypothesised that apathy and disinhibition would predict communication outcomes as would social cognition. We also predicted that apathy and disinhibition would influence social cognition. Communication outcomes were measured by the La Trobe Communication Questionnaire (LCQ) and the Social Skills Questionnaire-TBI (SSQ-TBI). Apathy and disinhibition were measured by the Frontal Systems Behavior Scale (FrSBe). We measured four aspects of social cognition: emotion perception and theory of mind using The Awareness of Social Inference Test (TASIT) and the Complex Audio-Visual Evaluation of Affect Test (CAVEAT), empathy using the Questionnaire of Cognitive and Affective Empathy (QCAE) and the Balanced Emotional Empathy Scale (BEES), and alexithymia using the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) and the Bermond-Vorst Alexithymia Questionnaire. Consistent with predictions, the LCQ and SSQ-TBI were associated with disinhibition and the LCQ was also associated with apathy. The LCQ was associated with the full range of social cognition constructs although the SSQ-TBI was not. Finally, apathy and disinhibition predicted a number of social cognition measures. These results are discussed in relation to understanding the nature of communication disorders following TBI and how they are measured, as well as the interrelation between emotion dysregulation and social cognition. What is already known on this subject The role of emotional dysregulation and social cognition in producing impaired communicative competence post traumatic brain injury (TBI) is not well understood. Although most adults with severe TBI have minimal or possibly no language impairment, they often struggle with functional communication in everyday situations. Many have been reported to be overtalkative, insensitive, childish and self-centred, displaying an inappropriate level of self-disclosure and making tangential and irrelevant comments. Conversely, some speakers with TBI have been noted to have impoverished communication, producing little language either spontaneously or in response to the speaker's questions and prompts. What this paper adds to existing knowledge We found that both apathy and disinhibition were strongly associated with the Latrobe Communication Questionnaire both empirically and conceptually, despite the LCQ being developed from a different, pragmatic orientation. Disinhibition was also associated with the Social Skills Questionnaire for TBI. We also found that poor social cognition scores predicted communication difficulties. Finally, we found that behavioural dysregulation itself, i.e., both apathy and disinhibition, predicted poor social cognition. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? Our findings highlight the central role that apathy and disinhibition play in both communication and social cognition. These insights point to the importance of remediation to target behavioural and autonomic dysregulation as a means to improve everyday social function.

Exploring Changes in Social Inferencing and Negative Attributions Following an Intervention for Individuals with Brain Injury

<h3>Research Objectives</h3> To investigate changes in social inferencing abilities and negative attribution tendencies in participants with traumatic brain injury (TBI) before and after receiving an intervention designed to teach more benign interpretations of others' behaviors. Secondarily, to examine the correlation between changes in social inferencing and negative attributions. <h3>Design</h3> Secondary analyses of measures employed in a randomized waitlist-controlled trial. <h3>Setting</h3> One TBI rehabilitation center <h3>Participants</h3> 15- 21 participants with complicated mild to severe TBI who were ≥1 year post-injury. All participants eventually received the ICAN intervention. <h3>Interventions</h3> Intervention to Change Attributions that are Negative (ICAN), is a 6-week group therapy that utilizes role-playing and perspective-positioning as techniques to alter participants' interpretations and judgments of others' actions. <h3>Main Outcome Measures</h3> The Awareness of Social Inference Test (TASIT) is a 3-part video assessment: Emotional Evaluation Test (EET); Social Inference-Minimal (SI-M) and Social Inference-Enriched (SI-E). EET involves identifying actors' emotions from multiple cues. SI-M requires inferences from sincere and sarcastic exchanges, and SI-E requires inferences from sarcasm and lies with additional context. The Ambiguous Intentions Hostility Questionnaire (AIHQ) uses hypothetical scenarios to evaluate participants' negative attributions of intent, hostility, and blame regarding characters' actions, as well as how much anger and aggression participants felt in response to the scenarios. <h3>Results</h3> Due to low enrollment, subject data was pooled for before/after analyses. On average, scores on the TASIT subtests (n=21) did not significantly change post-ICAN; however, a minimum clinically important difference of .5 SD was identified in 38%, 19%, and 29% for EET, SI-M, and SI-E, respectively. On the AIHQ (n=15), attributions of intent, anger response, and aggression response significantly reduced post-intervention (p <.05). Hostility and blame attributions trended towards significant improvements (p=.084 and .094 respectively). Changes in SI-M scores correlated with changes in blame (r=-.620, p<.05) and aggression (r=-.836, p<.01). <h3>Conclusions</h3> The ICAN intervention may reduce negative attributions post TBI, which may be related to changes in social inferencing. These promising results warrant more research. <h3>Author(s) Disclosures</h3> No conflicts of interest.

Comparative study of emotion recognition and theory of mind between major depressive disorder and schizophrenia

BackgroundSocial cognition as a transdiagnostic construct between major depressive disorder (MDD) and schizophrenia (SCZ) is not well understood. This may be attributed to the variability of social cognitive measures indexing the same construct. This study aims to compare emotion recognition and theory of mind domains, known to be impaired in SCZ, between MDD and SCZ. MethodsThree groups of participants (NTotal = 150) were enrolled in this study: MDD (n = 51), SCZ (n = 50) and healthy controls (HC; n = 49). Emotion recognition was assessed on the Bell Lysaker Emotion Recognition Task (BLERT) and Penn Emotion Recognition Task (ER40); theory of mind was measured on The Awareness of Social Inference Test (TASIT). Mixed ANCOVAs were utilised to compare social cognitive performance across the groups. ResultsSCZ performed poorer in all 3 social cognition tasks compared to both MDD and HC. No statistically significant difference in social cognitive performance was observed between MDD and HC. ConclusionsThis study serves as an effort towards employing the same standardised social cognitive measures for direct comparison of performance patterns across diagnostic groups. Future work is needed to extend this in larger samples of different illness severity and diagnostic categories.

Social cognition in 22q11.2 deletion syndrome and idiopathic developmental neuropsychiatric disorders

Background22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11DS) is a common recurrent neurogenetic condition associated with elevated risk for developmental neuropsychiatric disorders and intellectual disability. Children and adults with 22q11DS often exhibit marked social impairment as well as neurocognitive deficits, and have elevated rates of both autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and psychosis. However, the relationship between the basic processes of social cognition and cognitive ability has not been well studied in 22q11DS. Here, we examined differences in social cognition in 22q11DS, relative to multiple groups of idiopathic neuropsychiatric disorders, and typically developing healthy controls (HC). Additionally, we examined differences in intellectual functioning and its relationship to social cognitive abilities. Finally, we examined the relationship between social cognitive abilities and real-world social behavior.MethodsWe examined social cognition and intellectual functioning in 273 participants (mean age = 17.74 ± 5.18% female = 44.3%): 50 with 22q11DS, 49 youth with first episode psychosis (FEP), 48 at clinical high-risk (CHR) for psychosis, 24 participants with ASD, and 102 HC. Social cognition was assessed using The Awareness of Social Inference Test (TASIT), while reciprocal social behavior was assessed via parent/caregiver ratings on the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS). Participants were also administered the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence, 2nd edition (WASI-II) to assess intellectual functioning.ResultsThe 22q11DS group exhibited significantly lower social cognitive abilities compared to CHR, FEP, and HC groups after controlling for intellectual functioning, but not in comparison to the ASD group. Significant positive correlations were found between social cognition, as measured by the TASIT and IQ across groups. In contrast, no significant relationships were found between TASIT and real-world social behavior (SRS) for any group.ConclusionsOur findings indicate social cognitive deficits are more prominent in 22q11DS than idiopathic neuropsychiatric conditions across the age range, even after adjusting for global intellectual function. These results contribute to our understanding of the intellectual and social vulnerabilities of 22q11DS in comparison to idiopathic neuropsychiatric disorders. Our findings of robust associations between intellectual ability and social cognition emphasizes the importance of accounting for neurocognitive deficits in social skills interventions and tailoring these existing treatment models for 22q11DS and other populations with intellectual impairment.

What you see is what you get: visual scanning failures of naturalistic social scenes in schizophrenia.

Impairments in social cognition contribute significantly to disability in schizophrenia patients (SzP). Perception of facial expressions is critical for social cognition. Intact perception requires an individual to visually scan a complex dynamic social scene for transiently moving facial expressions that may be relevant for understanding the scene. The relationship of visual scanning for these facial expressions and social cognition remains unknown. In 39 SzP and 27 healthy controls (HC), we used eye-tracking to examine the relationship between performance on The Awareness of Social Inference Test (TASIT), which tests social cognition using naturalistic video clips of social situations, and visual scanning, measuring each individual's relative to the mean of HC. We then examined the relationship of visual scanning to the specific visual features (motion, contrast, luminance, faces) within the video clips. TASIT performance was significantly impaired in SzP for trials involving sarcasm (p < 10-5). Visual scanning was significantly more variable in SzP than HC (p < 10-6), and predicted TASIT performance in HC (p = 0.02) but not SzP (p = 0.91), differing significantly between groups (p = 0.04). During the visual scanning, SzP were less likely to be viewing faces (p = 0.0001) and less likely to saccade to facial motion in peripheral vision (p = 0.008). SzP show highly significant deficits in the use of visual scanning of naturalistic social scenes to inform social cognition. Alterations in visual scanning patterns may originate from impaired processing of facial motion within peripheral vision. Overall, these results highlight the utility of naturalistic stimuli in the study of social cognition deficits in schizophrenia.

Structural brain morphometry associated with theory of mind in bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia (SZ) and bipolar I disorder (BD) share common functional and structural brain abnormalities, as well as various degrees of social cognitive deficits, suggesting shared brain mechanisms. This study examined the relationship between social cognitive skills and structural brain integrity in 60 cases with SZ, 65 cases with psychotic BD, and 61 healthy controls (HCs). All participants underwent structural MRI and completed The Awareness of Social Inference Test (TASIT). Associations between social cognitive performance on each task of the TASIT (Emotion Recognition, Theory of Mind [ToM], and Complex ToM) and indices of gray matter volume and cortical thickness were investigated within three separate groups comprising (a) all cases with a history of psychosis (independently of their diagnostic status), (b) each diagnostic category separately, and (c) an HC group. Cases with psychosis showed worse social cognitive performance compared to the HC group, and SZ cases performed worse than BD on all ToM tasks, but not the Emotion Recognition subtest. Poor ToM performance was associated with thinner anterior temporal lobe in the combined group of cases with psychosis, and with decreased volume of the left fusiform gyrus/cerebellum in the HC group. In the BD group alone, poor ToM performance was associated with similar pattern of thinner anterior temporal lobe, as well as with increased volume in the mid- and posterior cingulate cortex/precuneus. However, there were no associations between brain morphometry and social cognition in the SZ group when considered alone. Taken together, ToM behavioral deficits were associated with thinner right anterior temporal lobe, a critical region from a larger affective ToM network among all cases with psychosis, but aberrant morphology of brain regions key for self-processing were specific to the BD group. These findings may have important implications for targeted interventions for the affective social brain network in BD.

Social cognition four years after mild-TBI: An age-matched prospective longitudinal cohort study.

To assess longer-term social cognition after mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and to identify the sociodemographic and acute factors (mood, cognitive functioning, and symptoms) influencing social cognition. Data were extracted for 121 adults who experienced a mTBI and completed the Emotion Evaluation and Social Inference Enriched tests of The Awareness of Social Inference Test (TASIT) 4 years postinjury. To identify early indicators of outcome, responses to the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Rivermead Post-Concussion Symptom Questionnaire, and CNS Vital Signs neurocognitive assessment conducted 1 month postinjury were also extracted. Social cognition scores were compared to age-matched TASIT norms (N = 121). The mTBI group was significantly less able to interpret what people say and intend than norms, although the effect sizes were small (d = 0.43). There were 24.8% of people 4 years postmTBI and 9.9% of norms who experienced at least mild impairment in social inference. There were no significant differences between the mTBI group and norms for emotion evaluation. Poorer social inference 4 years after mTBI was significantly associated with lower cognitive flexibility and executive function (F = 2.57, df = 13,26, p = .02). Group differences remained after controlling for cognitive functioning (F = 104.59 df = 1,58, p = .001. These novel results suggest that adults postmTBI may experience social inference difficulties 4 years post-TBI that are not completely explained by cognitive difficulties. Further research is needed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Loss of white matter connections after severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) and its relationship to social cognition

Adults with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) often suffer poor social cognition. Social cognition is complex, requiring verbal, non-verbal, auditory, visual and affective input and integration. While damage to focal temporal and frontal areas has been implicated in disorders of social cognition after TBI, the role of white matter pathology has not been examined. In this study 17 adults with chronic, severe TBI and 17 control participants underwent structural MRI scans and Diffusion Tensor Imaging. The Awareness of Social Inference Test (TASIT) was used to assess their ability to understand emotional states, thoughts, intentions and conversational meaning in everyday exchanges. Track-based spatial statistics were used to perform voxelwise analysis of Fractional Anisotropy (FA) and Mean Diffusivity (MD) of white matter tracts associated with poor social cognitive performance. FA suggested a wide range of tracts were implicated in poor TASIT performance including tracts known to mediate, auditory localisation (planum temporale) communication between nonverbal and verbal processes in general (corpus callosum) and in memory in particular (fornix) as well as tracts and structures associated with semantics and verbal recall (left temporal lobe and hippocampus), multimodal processing and integration (thalamus, external capsule, cerebellum) and with social cognition (orbitofrontal cortex, frontopolar cortex, right temporal lobe). Even when controlling for non-social cognition, the corpus callosum, fornix, bilateral thalamus, right external capsule and right temporal lobe remained significant contributors to social cognitive performance. This study highlights the importance of loss of white matter connectivity in producing complex social information processing deficits after TBI.

T58. SARCASM COMPREHENSION AS A SOCIAL COGNITION MEASURE IN SCHIZOPHRENIA – A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE SEARCH AND META-ANALYSIS ON THE USE OF THE TASIT

BackgroundSocial cognition tasks with higher ecologically validity could be helpful both as an outcome measure for training and for social cognition impairment in schizophrenia. The comprehension of sarcasm and irony is a candidate for a valid, replicable task.MethodsTests and paradigms as well as studies in schizophrenia are available in English, Dutch, German, Italian, Greek, Japanese and other languages. The Awareness of Social Inference Test (TASIT) (McDonald et al.,J head trauma rehabil 2003,) is currently the by far most applied paradigm. Here, we present a systematic literature research and meta-analysis on application of these paradigms in patients with schizophrenia.Results25 studies with data from n=2185 patients with schizophrenia and n=1474 controls used the TASIT. This exceeds the numbers for other irony comprehension paradigms. Separate meta-analyses were calculated for the “sarcasm-enriched” and “sarcasm-minimal” subtests with data from 5 different English language studies. In both subtests, patients with schizophrenia showed significant impairment. Non-English translations of the TASIT show a comparable picture. Longitudinal data are available from 4 studies. Studies in high risk populations showed mixed results, however the TASIT is included in longitudinal cohort studies such as NAPLS-2.DiscussionWe discuss differences with other task such as paradigms without prosodic or face information or the available fMRI investigations.

Memory, emotion regulation, and social inference skills in college students

Relationships between memory and social inference (SI) have been documented in clinical literature, and these relationships may be affected by specific symptomatology within clinical groups. Among healthy individuals, two commonly studied emotion regulation (ER) strategies, cognitive reappraisal and suppression, have been found to correlate with memory and social skills, but have not been examined in relation to SI specifically. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine relationships between various types of memory and SI in healthy young adults, and to explore whether individual differences in ER moderate the relationship between memory and SI skills. Ninety-seven participants completed computerized tasks of memory (verbal, face, and working memory), The Awareness of Social Inference Test (TASIT), and a trait ER questionnaire. Correlational analyses showed that verbal memory was positively related to SI and cognitive reappraisal was positively related to face memory. Moderation analyses showed a positive relationship between face memory and SI only for individuals who reported high trait use of cognitive reappraisal. These findings suggest that the relationship between face memory and social cognitive abilities in healthy college students may be affected by individual differences in habitual ER strategy use.

The Social Attribution Task - Multiple Choice (SAT-MC): Psychometric comparison with social cognitive measures for schizophrenia research

The Social Attribution Task-Multiple Choice (SAT-MC) tests the ability to extract social themes from viewed object motion. This form of animacy perception is thought to aid the development of social inference, but appears impaired in schizophrenia. The current study was undertaken to examine psychometric equivalence of two forms of the SAT-MC and to compare their performance against social cognitive tests recommended for schizophrenia research. Thirty-two schizophrenia (SZ) and 30 substance use disorder (SUD) participants completed both SAT-MC forms, the Bell-Lysaker Emotion Recognition Task (BLERT), Hinting Task, The Awareness of Social Inference Test (TASIT), Ambiguous Intentions and Hostility Questionnaire (AIHQ) and questionnaire measures of interpersonal function. Test sensitivity, construct and external validity, test-retest reliability, and internal consistency were evaluated. SZ scored significantly lower than SUD on both SAT-MC forms, each classifying ~60% of SZ as impaired, compared with ~30% of SUD. SAT-MC forms demonstrated good test-retest and parallel form reliability, minimal practice effect, high internal consistency, and similar patterns of correlation with social cognitive and external validity measures. The SAT-MC compared favorably to recommended social cognitive tests across psychometric features and, with exception of TASIT, was most sensitive to impairment in schizophrenia when compared to a chronic substance use sample.

Emotion Recognition Correlates With Social-Neuropsychiatric Dysfunction in Huntington's Disease.

People with Huntington's disease (HD) experience poor social quality of life, relationship breakdown, and social withdrawal, which are mediated to some extent by socially debilitating neuropsychiatric symptoms, such as apathy and disinhibition. Social cognitive symptoms, such as impaired emotion recognition, also occur in HD, however, the extent of their association with these socially debilitating neuropsychiatric symptoms is unknown. Our study examined the relationship between emotion recognition and symptom ratings of apathy and disinhibition in HD. Thirty-two people with premanifest or symptomatic-HD completed Part 1 of The Awareness of Social Inference Test (TASIT), which is a facial emotion recognition task. In addition, we obtained severity ratings for apathy and disinhibition on the Frontal Systems Behavior Scale (FrSBe) from a close family member. Our analyses used motor symptom severity as a proxy for disease progression. Emotion recognition performance was significantly associated with family-ratings of apathy, above and beyond their shared association with disease severity. We found a similar pattern for disinhibition ratings, which fell short of statistical significance. As expected, worse emotion recognition performance was correlated with higher severity in FrSBe symptom ratings. Our findings suggest that emotion recognition abilities relate to key socially debilitating neuropsychiatric symptoms in HD. Our results help to understand the functional significance of emotion recognition impairments in HD, and may have implications for the development of remediation programs aimed at improving patients' social quality of life. (JINS, 2018, 24, 417-423).