The effect of context processing on different aspects of social cognition in schizophrenia

Compressed primary-to-transmodal gradient is accompanied with subcortical alterations and linked to neurotransmitters and cellular signatures in major depressive disorder

Major depressive disorder (MDD) has been shown to involve widespread changes in low-level sensorimotor and higher-level cognitive functions. Recent research found that a primary-to-transmodal gradient could capture a cortical hierarchical organization ranging from perception and action to cognition in healthy subjects, but a prominent gradient dysfunction in MDD patients. However, whether and how this cortical gradient is linked to subcortical impairments and whether it is reflected in the microscale neurotransmitter systems and cell type-specific transcriptional signatures remain largely unknown. Data were acquired from 323 MDD patients and 328 sex- and age-matched healthy controls derived from the REST-meta-MDD project, and the human brain neurotransmitter systems density maps and gene expression data were drawn from two publicly available datasets. We investigated alterations of the primary-to-transmodal gradient in MDD patients and their correlations with clinical symptoms of depression and anxiety, as well as  their paralleled subcortical impairments. The correlations between MDD-related gradient alterations and densities of the neurotransmitter systems and gene expression information were assessed, respectively. The results demonstrated that MDD patients had a compressed primary-to-transmodal gradient accompanied by paralleled alterations in subcortical regions including the caudate, amygdala, and thalamus. The case-control gradient differences were spatially correlated with the densities of the neurotransmitter systems including the serotonin and dopamine receptors, and meanwhile with gene expression enriched in astrocytes, excitatory and inhibitory neuronal cells. These findings mapped the paralleled subcortical impairments in cortical hierarchical organization and also helped us understand the possible molecular and cellular substrates of the co-occurrence of high-level cognitive impairments with low-level sensorimotor abnormalities in MDD.

Psychopathology and Theory of Mind in patients with personality disorders

OBJECTIVE

People with mental disorders frequently suffer from deficits in the ability to infer other's mental states (Theory of Mind; ToM). Individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD) show ToM deficits characterized by exceeding ToM (over-attributions of mental states). The present study analyzed associations between ToM, BPD severity, and depression severity in patients with BPD and other personality disorders.

METHOD

We analyzed ToM abilities in 128 patients with BPD and 82 patients with 'mixed and other personality disorders' (MOPD). MOPD are diagnosed if symptoms of multiple personality disorders are present without any set of symptoms being dominant enough to allow a specific diagnosis. We used the movies for the assessment of social cognition (MASC) to measure ToM abilities, the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) to assess severity of depression and the McLean Screening Instrument for Borderline Personality Disorder (MSI-BPD) to assess the severity of BPD symptoms.

RESULTS

Both symptoms of BPD and depression were associated with exceeding ToM in separate regressions. Using a stepwise regression, only the association of depression severity with exceeding ToM was reliable. Patients with BPD and MOPD did not differ in exceeding ToM. Age was most reliably associated with ToM.

CONCLUSION

The results imply that exceeding ToM is associated with general psychopathology instead of BPD-symptoms in specific. Patients with MOPD show deficits similar to BPD patients.

Threat induction biases processing of emotional expressions

Threats can derive from our physical or social surroundings and bias the way we perceive and interpret a given situation. They can be signaled by peers through facial expressions, as expressed anger or fear can represent the source of perceived threat. The current study seeks to investigate enhanced attentional state and defensive reflexes associated with contextual threat induced through aversive sounds presented in an emotion recognition paradigm. In a sample of 120 healthy participants, response and gaze behavior revealed differences in perceiving emotional facial expressions between threat and safety conditions: Responses were slower under threat and less accurate. Happy and neutral facial expressions were classified correctly more often in a safety context and misclassified more often as fearful under threat. This unidirectional misclassification suggests that threat applies a negative filter to the perception of neutral and positive information. Eye movements were initiated later under threat, but fixation changes were more frequent and dwell times shorter compared to a safety context. These findings demonstrate that such experimental paradigms are capable of providing insight into how context alters emotion processing at cognitive, physiological, and behavioral levels. Such alterations may derive from evolutionary adaptations necessary for biasing cognitive processing to survive disadvantageous situations. This perspective sets up new testable hypotheses regarding how such levels of explanation may be dysfunctional in patient populations.

Social and nonsocial cognition: Are they linked? A study on patients with moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury

OBJECTIVES

The first aim was to study the relationship between Social Cognition (SC) and nonsocial Cognition (n-SC) measures in a group of patients with moderate or severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) to assess the dependence or independence of both types of cognition. The second aim was to explore the relationships between SC measures and generate a model based on the results of these relationships.

METHODS AND PROCEDURES

Forty-three subacute patients with TBI were included in the study. They were administered a SC battery and n-SC battery. SC battery included the following measures: International Affective Picture System (IAPS); Facial Expressions of Emotion-Stimuli Test (FEEST); Moving Shapes Paradigm (MSP); Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test- Revised Version (RMET); Social Decision Making Task (SDMT). n-SC battery included Digit Span Forwards and Backwards; Trail Making Test (Part A); Rey's Auditory Verbal Learning Test; Letter-Number Sequencing; and verbal fluency test (PMR).

RESULTS

FEEST, MSP and RMET were related to n-SC measures. The exploratory factor analysis shows a two-factor SC structure: Factor 1: Emotional recognition and mentalization (FEEST, MSP and RMET) and Factor 2: Acquisition and contextualization (IAPS and SDMT).

CONCLUSION

The performance of subjects with moderate-to-severe TBI in the SC measures is related, at least partially, by the performance in the n-SC measures. Our SC model shows a two-factor structure characterized by a first factor that brings together SC measures that are highly related to n-SC domains and a second factor that brings together measures whose performance is not influenced by n-SC domains.

Inefficient integration during multiple facial processing in pre-morbid and early phases of psychosis

OBJECTIVES

We used eye-tracking to evaluate multiple facial context processing and event-related potential (ERP) to evaluate multiple facial recognition in individuals at clinical high risk (CHR) for psychosis.

METHODS

In total, 173 subjects (83 CHRs and 90 healthy controls [HCs]) were included and their emotion perception performances were accessed. A total of 40 CHRs and 40 well-matched HCs completed an eye-tracking task where they viewed pictures depicting a person in the foreground, presented as context-free, context-compatible, and context-incompatible. During the two-year follow-up, 26 CHRs developed psychosis, including 17 individuals who developed first-episode schizophrenia (FES). Eighteen well-matched HCs were made to complete the face number detection ERP task with image stimuli of one, two, or three faces.

RESULTS

Compared to the HC group, the CHR group showed reduced visual attention to contextual processing when viewing multiple faces. With the increasing complexity of contextual faces, the differences in eye-tracking characteristics also increased. In the ERP task, the N170 amplitude decreased with a higher face number in FES patients, while it increased with a higher face number in HCs.

CONCLUSIONS

Individuals in the very early phase of psychosis showed facial processing deficits with supporting evidence of different scan paths during context processing and disruption of N170 during multiple facial recognition.

Characteristics of Facial Muscle Activity Intensity in Patients With Schizophrenia and Its Relationship to Negative Symptoms

INTRODUCTION

Previous studies have shown that in addition to having impairments in facial emotion recognition, patients with schizophrenia also show a lack of facial expression. Although negative symptoms such as decreased facial activity are common symptoms of schizophrenia, the related factors remain inconclusive. Therefore, this study compared healthy controls to explore the characteristics of facial muscle activity intensity in patients with schizophrenia and its relationship with negative symptoms.

METHODS

This observational and cross-sectional study conducted in a psychiatric hospital in China included a total of 135 patients with schizophrenia and 134 healthy controls. The negative symptoms of schizophrenia were evaluated using the Brief Negative Symptom Scale. The intensity of facial muscle activity under positive, neutral, and negative emotional stimuli conditions was automatically collected by a computer, including 17 values (F01-F17) that represent different facial muscle activities. Statistical tests were performed to analyze facial muscle activity indexes, to explore an objective and quantitative method to evaluate the negative symptoms of schizophrenia.

RESULTS

The facial muscle activity intensity of the schizophrenia group at F02 (outer eyebrow), F04 (upper eyelid), F07 (nose), F10 (dimple), F12 (lower jaw 1), F14 (lip 2), and F17 (blink) was lower than that of the healthy controls (p < 0.05). Under positive, neutral, and negative emotional stimuli conditions, the facial muscle activity intensity of F16 (lower jaw 2) was positively correlated with negative symptoms (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

Our study indicated that patients with schizophrenia show defects in facial muscle activity and that is associated with negative symptoms.

Neural, behavioural and real-life correlates of social context sensitivity and social reward learning during interpersonal interactions in the schizophrenia spectrum

OBJECTIVE

Recent findings suggest that diminished processing of positive contextual information about others during interactions may contribute to social impairment in the schizophrenia spectrum. This could be due to general social context processing deficits or specific biases against positive information. We studied the impact of positive and negative social contextual information during social interactions using functional neuroimaging and probed whether these neural mechanisms were associated with real-life social functioning in schizophrenia spectrum disorders.

METHODS

Patients with a schizophrenia spectrum disorder (N = 23) and controls disorder (N = 25) played three multi-round trust games during functional magnetic resonance imaging scanning, with no, positive and negative information about the counterpart's trustworthiness, while all counterparts were programmed to behave trustworthy. The main outcome variable was the height of the shared amount in the trust game, i.e. investment, representing an indication of trust. The first investment in the game was considered to be basic trust, since no behavioural feedback was given yet. We performed region-of-interest analyses and examined the association with real-life social functioning using the experience sampling method.

RESULTS

Social contextual information had no effect on patients' first investments, whereas controls made the lowest investment after negative and the highest investments after positive contextual information was provided. Over trials, patients decreased investments, suggesting reduced social reward learning, whereas controls increased investments in response to behavioural feedback in the negative context. Patients engaged the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex less than controls during context presentation and showed reduced activity within the caudate during repayments. In patients, lower investments were associated with more time spent alone and social exclusion and lower caudate activation was marginally significantly associated with higher perceived social exclusion.

CONCLUSION

The failure to adapt trust to positive and negative social contexts suggests that patients have a general insensitivity to prior social information, indicating top-down processing impairments. In addition, patients show reduced sensitivity to social reward, i.e. bottom-up processing deficits. Moreover, lower trust and lower neural activation were related to lower real-life social functioning. Together, these findings indicate that improving trust and social interactions in schizophrenia spectrum needs a multi-faceted approach that targets both mechanisms.

Limited contextual memory and transcriptional dysregulation in the medial prefrontal cortex of mice exposed to early protein malnutrition are intergenerationally transmitted

Memory contextualization is vital for the subsequent retrieval of relevant memories in specific situations and is a critical dimension of social cognition. The inability to properly contextualize information has been described as characteristic of psychiatric disorders like autism spectrum disorders, schizophrenia, and post-traumatic stress disorder. The exposure to early-life adversities, such as nutritional deficiency, increases the risk to trigger alterations in different domains of cognition related to those observed in mental diseases. In this work, we explored the consequences of exposure to perinatal protein malnutrition on contextual memory in a mouse model and assessed whether these consequences are transmitted to the next generation. Female mice were fed with a normal or hypoproteic diet during pregnancy and lactation. To evaluate contextual memory, the object-context mismatch test was performed in both sexes of F1 offspring and in the subsequent F2 generation. We observed that contextual memory was altered in mice of both sexes that had been subjected to maternal protein malnutrition and that the deficit in contextual memory was transmitted to the next generation. The basis of this alteration seems to be a transcriptional dysregulation of genes involved in the excitatory and inhibitory balance and immediate-early genes within the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) of both generations. The expression of genes encoding enzymes that regulate H3K27me3 levels was altered in the mPFC and partially in sperm of F1 malnourished mice. These results support the hypothesis that early nutritional deficiency represents a risk factor for the emergence of symptoms associated with mental disorders.

Global disruption in excitation-inhibition balance can cause localized network dysfunction and Schizophrenia-like context-integration deficits

Poor context integration, the process of incorporating both previous and current information in decision making, is a cognitive symptom of schizophrenia. The maintenance of the contextual information has been shown to be sensitive to changes in excitation-inhibition (EI) balance. Many regions of the brain are sensitive to EI imbalances, however, so it is unknown how systemic manipulations affect the specific regions that are important to context integration. We constructed a multi-structure, biophysically-realistic agent that could perform context-integration as is assessed by the dot pattern expectancy task. The agent included a perceptual network, a memory network, and a decision making system and was capable of successfully performing the dot pattern expectancy task. Systemic manipulation of the agent’s EI balance produced localized dysfunction of the memory structure, which resulted in schizophrenia-like deficits at context integration. When the agent’s pyramidal cells were less excitatory, the agent fixated upon the cue and initiated responding later than the default agent, which were like the deficits one would predict that individuals on the autistic spectrum would make. This modelling suggests that it may be possible to parse between different types of context integration deficits by adding distractors to context integration tasks and by closely examining a participant’s reaction times.

Schizophrenia is a debilitating mental health disorder and its underlying etiology is currently unknown. Neural imbalances in the neural excitation and inhibition of specific regions of the brain have been hypothesized to cause symptoms of schizophrenia. Most regions of the brain have specific excitation-inhibition balances that permit their functioning in the processing of information. How systemic changes in the excitation-inhibition balance cause specific deficits and dysfunction within neural circuits is unknown. A common cognitive deficit in schizophrenia is difficulty with context integration, which is the ability to successfully use previous and current information when making decisions. We assessed how this symptom could be caused by an imbalance in neural excitation and inhibition by simulating the effects of potential imbalances in a model agent. Global imbalances in the agent’s neural excitation and inhibition led to impairment of specific circuits. These dysfunctional circuits produced behavioral deficits that were like those observed in individuals with schizophrenia. These simulations suggested how specific neural circuits may be disrupted by global changes in excitation or inhibition, ways to improve the assessment of context integration, new approaches to analyzing behavior, and why it may be beneficial to assess context integration in autism spectrum disorder.

The functional significance of cognitive empathy and theory of mind in early and chronic schizophrenia

Theoretical models suggest that it is the interplay between social cognitive processes that result in adaptive social functioning in schizophrenia. This study explored the relative contributions of, and interplay between, cognitive empathy, affective theory of mind (ToM), neurocognition, and severity of clinical symptoms, in predicting the social functioning of individuals with schizophrenia. Clinical participants (early schizophrenia n = 26, chronic schizophrenia n = 32) were administered an ecologically valid measure of ToM (viz., the Virtual Assessment of Mentalising Ability or VAMA) and the Empathy Quotient (EQ) as part of a larger neuropsychological and social functioning assessment battery. Results indicated that individuals with early schizophrenia reported significantly better cognitive empathy than individuals with chronic schizophrenia. ToM was found to have added value in predicting both community functioning and functional capacity that was beyond that accounted for by cognitive empathy, clinical symptoms, and neurocognition for both clinical groups. Further, our results indicated that the capacity to demonstrate empathic understanding of another's situation (i.e., cognitive empathy) mediates the relationship between ToM and social functioning. Together, our findings highlight the intricate and compounding nature of social cognition constructs, and their effect on social functioning for individuals with schizophrenia.

A meta-analysis of the associations between theory of mind and neurocognition in schizophrenia

Theory of mind (ToM) refers to the ability to infer the mental states of others. ToM is impaired in schizophrenia and these deficits seem to hinder functional recovery. ToM is thus an important, but complex treatment target, supported by several processes. A large number of studies report significant associations between ToM and neurocognition (e.g. memory, attention), but the neurocognitive domains that are most closely linked to ToM remain to be identified. A meta-analysis was conducted to estimate the magnitude of the associations between ToM and neurocognition in people with schizophrenia. Correlations were extracted from the relevant literature, transformed into effect sizes Zr and pooled as weighted means. Focused-tests were employed to test for differences between neurocognitive domains and for differences linked to the characteristics of ToM tasks. Ninety-one studies (N = 5462) were included. Moderate associations emerged between ToM and each neurocognitive domain (Zrs 0.27-0.43), with no significant difference between domains (χ2(8) = 11.89, p = 0.156). Within the domain of executive functions, abstraction showed a stronger association with ToM (χ2(4) = 18.93, p = 0.001). Several ToM tasks characteristics (e.g. modality of stimuli, type of mental state), were significantly related to the magnitude of the associations between ToM and executive functions, visuospatial/problem solving, attention and episodic memory. These results suggest that ToM is linked to a wide range of neurocognitive abilities in schizophrenia, and that ToM tasks are a significant moderator of these associations. The assessment and treatment of ToM should consider the neurocognitive profile of each patient to understand his difficulties and to tailor interventions.

Influence of emotional contexts on facial emotion attribution in schizophrenia

Recent emotion recognition studies in schizophrenia have reported misattribution of emotional content to emotionally neutral faces. While in these studies faces are presented in the absence of any contextual reference, in daily life facial expressions are typically perceived within a specific situational context. However, there is no evidence on the possible modulatory role of contextual aids on emotion attribution to neutral faces. We address this issue in the present study. Thirty schizophrenia patients and thirty paired controls performed an emotion categorization task (by choosing one among six labels of emotions) with neutral target faces that were superimposed on affectively positive, negative or neutral scenes. In presence of positive contexts, patients categorized neutral faces as happy and fearful more frequently than controls. When negative contexts were present, patients also categorized neutral faces as fearful more frequently than controls. However, in the presence of neutral contexts patients and controls did not differ in their categorization pattern. These results suggest that explicit presence of a neutral context seems to compensate for the bias showed by patients. With the purpose of correcting emotion misattribution in schizophrenia, emotionally neutral contexts might be incorporated to treatments aimed at improving social cognition performance in this patient population.

A Theoretical and Clinical Perspective on Social Relatedness and the Patient With Serious Mental Illness

BACKGROUND

A therapeutic relationship forms the basis of care of patients in psychiatric mental health nursing. However, individuals with schizophrenia have difficulty participating in these relationships. Recent research in the area of social cognitive psychology offers that deficits in this area affect the flow of perceiving and relating in interpersonal relationships. This literature has not been applied to nursing.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this article is to review the theories underpinning therapeutic relationships from a nursing and psychological perspective, including the newest research from social cognitive psychology.

DESIGN

The article presents a literature review of the theories of nursing, psychology, and social cognitive science. Two patient case studies are used as examples of application of the theories.

RESULTS

This article incorporates new knowledge about the components of social cognition to inform nurses as they build therapeutic relationships with patients with chronic and persistent mental illnesses.

CONCLUSIONS

The science of social cognitive psychology offers nursing a new perspective on the evolving therapeutic nurse-patient relationship with patients with chronic and persistent mental illnesses. It has implications for clinicians, educators, and nurse scientists.

Are executive functions related to emotional intelligence? A correlational study in schizophrenia and borderline personality disorder

This research explored the relationship between executive functions (working memory and reasoning subtests of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, Trail Making and Stroop tests, fluency and planning tasks, and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test) and emotional intelligence measured by the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test in patients with schizophrenia or borderline personality disorder compared to a control group. As expected, both clinical groups performed worse than the control group in executive functions and emotional intelligence, although the impairment was greater in the borderline personality disorder group. Executive functions significantly correlated with social functioning. Results are discussed in relation to the brain circuits that mediate executive functions and emotional intelligence and the findings obtained with other models of social cognition.

Neural Correlates of Belief and Emotion Attribution in Schizophrenia

Impaired mental state attribution is a core social cognitive deficit in schizophrenia. With functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), this study examined the extent to which the core neural system of mental state attribution is involved in mental state attribution, focusing on belief attribution and emotion attribution. Fifteen schizophrenia outpatients and 14 healthy controls performed two mental state attribution tasks in the scanner. In a Belief Attribution Task, after reading a short vignette, participants were asked infer either the belief of a character (a false belief condition) or a physical state of an affair (a false photograph condition). In an Emotion Attribution Task, participants were asked either to judge whether character(s) in pictures felt unpleasant, pleasant, or neutral emotion (other condition) or to look at pictures that did not have any human characters (view condition). fMRI data were analyzing focusing on a priori regions of interest (ROIs) of the core neural systems of mental state attribution: the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), temporoparietal junction (TPJ) and precuneus. An exploratory whole brain analysis was also performed. Both patients and controls showed greater activation in all four ROIs during the Belief Attribution Task than the Emotion Attribution Task. Patients also showed less activation in the precuneus and left TPJ compared to controls during the Belief Attribution Task. No significant group difference was found during the Emotion Attribution Task in any of ROIs. An exploratory whole brain analysis showed a similar pattern of neural activations. These findings suggest that while schizophrenia patients rely on the same neural network as controls do when attributing beliefs of others, patients did not show reduced activation in the key regions such as the TPJ. Further, this study did not find evidence for aberrant neural activation during emotion attribution or recruitment of compensatory brain regions in schizophrenia.

Preserved implicit mentalizing in schizophrenia despite poor explicit performance: evidence from eye tracking

Schizophrenia has been characterized by an impaired mentalizing. It has been suggested that distinguishing implicit from explicit processes is crucial in social cognition, and only the latter might be affected in schizophrenia. Two other questions remain open: (1) Is schizophrenia characterized by an hypo- or hyper attribution of intentions? (2) Is it characterized by a deficit in the attribution of intention or of contingency? To test these three questions, spontaneous mentalizing was tested in 29 individuals with schizophrenia and 29 control subjects using the Frith-Happé animations, while eye movements were recorded. Explicit mentalizing was measured from participants’ verbal descriptions and was contrasted with implicit mentalizing measured through eye tracking. As a group, patients made less accurate and less intentional descriptions of the goal-directed and theory of mind animations. No group differences were found in the attribution of contingency. Eye tracking results revealed that patients and controls showed a similar modulation of eye movements in response to the mental states displayed in the Frith-Happé animations. To conclude, in this paradigm, participants with schizophrenia showed a dissociation between explicit and implicit mentalizing, with a decrease in the explicit attribution of intentions, whereas their eye movements suggested a preserved implicit perception of intentions.

Eye-tracking reveals a slowdown of social context processing during intention attribution in patients with schizophrenia

BACKGROUND

Schizophrenia is associated with poor theory of mind (ToM), particularly in the attribution of intentions to others. It is also associated with abnormal gaze behaviours and contextual processing. This study investigated to what extent impaired ToM in patients with schizophrenia is related to abnormal processing of social context.

METHODS

We evaluated ToM using a nonverbal intention attribution task based on comic strips depicting social/nonsocial and contextual/noncontextual events while eye movements were recorded. Eye-tracking was used to assess processing time dedicated to visual cues contained in regions of interest identified in a pilot study. We measured cognitive contextual control on a separate task.

RESULTS

We tested 29 patients with schizophrenia and 29 controls. Compared with controls, patients were slower in intention attribution but not in physical reasoning. They looked longer than controls at contextual cues displayed in the first 2 context pictures of the comic strips, and this difference was greater for intention attribution than for physical reasoning. We found no group difference in time spent looking at noncontextual cues. Patients' impairment in contextual control did not explain their increased reaction time and gaze duration on contextual cues during intention attribution.

LIMITATIONS

Difficulty may not have been equivalent between intention attribution and physical reasoning conditions.

CONCLUSION

Overall, schizophrenia was characterized by a delay in intention attribution related to a slowdown of social context processing that was not explained by worse executive contextual control.

Independence of Hot and Cold Executive Function Deficits in High-Functioning Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Individuals with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) display diverse deficits in social, cognitive and behavioral functioning. To date, there has been mixed findings on the profile of executive function deficits for high-functioning adults (IQ > 70) with ASD. A conceptual distinction is commonly made between "cold" and "hot" executive functions. Cold executive functions refer to mechanistic higher-order cognitive operations (e.g., working memory), whereas hot executive functions entail cognitive abilities supported by emotional awareness and social perception (e.g., social cognition). This study aimed to determine the independence of deficits in hot and cold executive functions for high-functioning adults with ASD. Forty-two adults with ASD (64% male, aged 18-66 years) and 40 age and gender matched controls were administered The Awareness of Social Inference Test (TASIT; emotion recognition and social inference), Letter Number Sequencing (working memory) and Hayling Sentence Completion Test (response initiation and suppression). Between-group analyses identified that the ASD group performed significantly worse than matched controls on all measures of cold and hot executive functions (d = 0.54 - 1.5). Hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that the ASD sample performed more poorly on emotion recognition and social inference tasks than matched controls after controlling for cold executive functions and employment status. The findings also indicated that the ability to recognize emotions and make social inferences was supported by working memory and response initiation and suppression processes. Overall, this study supports the distinction between hot and cold executive function impairments for adults with ASD. Moreover, it advances understanding of higher-order impairments underlying social interaction difficulties for this population which, in turn, may assist with diagnosis and inform intervention programs.

Factors contributing to social cognition impairment in borderline personality disorder and schizophrenia

Social cognition (SC) deficits have been described both in patients with schizophrenia and borderline personality disorder (BPD). However, while the former tend towards simplistic mental state attributions (undermentalizing), the latter are more likely to make overly complex mental state inferences (overmentalizing). Performance on complex SC tasks has been shown to correlate with neurocognitive ability, emotion perception, a history of trauma, and overconfidence in errors. However, it is unclear how these factors relate to different aspects of SC deficits. Aim of the present study was to examine the pathways of SC impairment by investigating performance profiles and their predictors comparatively in BPD and schizophrenia. Participants were 44 patients with BPD, 36 patients with schizophrenia, and 38 healthy controls. Undermentalizing and overmentalizing were assessed with an ecologically valid SC task. Patients with BPD exhibited increased overmentalizing, whereas patients with schizophrenia showed a more extensive deficit pattern, their main error type being undermentalizing. Overconfidence in errors was the most important predictor for overmentalizing, while undermentalizing depended mainly on verbal memory and emotion perception. Thus, BPD und schizophrenia exhibited different SC impairment patterns, and different types of SC errors were predicted by different factors. These findings have implications for the optimization of treatment approaches.

Theory of Mind and Context Processing in Schizophrenia: The Role of Social Knowledge

The present study sought to determine whether social knowledge such as speaker occupation stereotypes may impact theory of mind (ToM) ability in patients with schizophrenia (SZ). Thirty individuals with SZ and 30 matched healthy control (HC) participants were tested individually on their ToM ability using a paradigm showing that stereotypes such as speaker occupation influences the extent to which speaker ironic intent is understood. ToM ability was assessed with open questions on the speaker ironic intent, irony rating, and mockery rating. Social perception was also assessed through politeness rating. The main results showed that SZ participants, like HC participants, were sensitive to the social stereotypes. They used these stereotypes adequately to attribute mental states such as speaker ironic intent to a protagonist while they found it difficult to explicitly judge and attribute negative attitude and emotion, as evidenced by mockery rating. No difference was found between the two groups regarding social perception ability. These performances were not associated with clinical symptoms. The integration of contextual information seems to be a good target for cognitive remediation aiming to increase social cognition ability.

Empathy and contextual social cognition

Empathy is a highly flexible and adaptive process that allows for the interplay of prosocial behavior in many different social contexts. Empathy appears to be a very situated cognitive process, embedded with specific contextual cues that trigger different automatic and controlled responses. In this review, we summarize relevant evidence regarding social context modulation of empathy for pain. Several contextual factors, such as stimulus reality and personal experience, affectively link with other factors, emotional cues, threat information, group membership, and attitudes toward others to influence the affective, sensorimotor, and cognitive processing of empathy. Thus, we propose that the frontoinsular-temporal network, the so-called social context network model (SCNM), is recruited during the contextual processing of empathy. This network would (1) update the contextual cues and use them to construct fast predictions (frontal regions), (2) coordinate the internal (body) and external milieus (insula), and (3) consolidate the context-target associative learning of empathic processes (temporal sites). Furthermore, we propose these context-dependent effects of empathy in the framework of the frontoinsular-temporal network and examine the behavioral and neural evidence of three neuropsychiatric conditions (Asperger syndrome, schizophrenia, and the behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia), which simultaneously present with empathy and contextual integration impairments. We suggest potential advantages of a situated approach to empathy in the assessment of these neuropsychiatric disorders, as well as their relationship with the SCNM.

Emotional perception and theory of mind in first episode psychosis: the role of obsessive-compulsive symptomatology

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of comorbid obsessive-compulsive symptoms on emotional perception and theory of mind (ToM) in patients with first-episode psychosis. Participants were 65 patients with non-affective first episode psychosis (FEP) and 47 healthy controls. The patient group was divided into two subgroups, those with (FEP+; n=38) and those without obsessive-compulsive symptomatology (FEP-; n=27). Emotion perception and ToM were assessed with the Perception of Social Inference Test. Severity of psychotic and obsessive-compulsive symptoms was assessed with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS), respectively. Deficits in emotion recognition and theory of mind were confirmed in patients with non-affective first-episode psychosis compared to healthy controls. In patients, comorbidity with obsessive-compulsive symptoms was associated with worse performance on certain aspects of social cognition (ToM 2nd order) compared to FEP- patients. Our findings of impaired emotion perception and ToM in patients with first-episode psychosis support the hypothesis that deficits are already present at illness onset. Presence of OCS appears to have further deleterious effects on social cognition, suggesting that these patients may belong to a schizo-obsessive subtype of schizophrenia characterized by more extensive neurobiological impairment.

Factor Analysis Demonstrates a Common Schizoidal Phenotype within Autistic and Schizotypal Tendency: Implications for Neuroscientific Studies

Behavioral and cognitive dysfunction, particularly social and communication impairments, are shared between autism and schizophrenia spectrum disorders, while evidence for a diametric autism-positive schizophrenia symptom profile is inconsistent. We investigated the shared phenotype at a personality trait level, particularly its resemblance to schizoid personality disorder, as well as differential aspects of the autism-schizophrenia model. Items of the autism spectrum quotient (AQ) and schizotypal personality questionnaire (SPQ) were pseudo-randomly combined, and were completed by 449 (162 male, 287 female) non-clinical participants aged 18-40. A factor analysis revealed three factors; the first represented a shared social disorganization phenotype, the second reflected perceptual oddities specific to schizotypy while the third reflected social rigidity specific to autism. The AQ and SPQ were strongly correlated with Factor 1 (AQ: r = 0.75, p < 0.001; SPQ: r = 0.96, p < 0.001), SPQ score was correlated with Factor 2 (r = 0.51, p < 0.001), particularly in cognitive-perceptual features (r = 0.66, p < 0.001), and AQ score was strongly correlated with Factor 3 (r = 0.76, p < 0.001). Furthermore, there was no relationship between Factor 1 and Factor 2. Thus, there is robust evidence for a shared social disorganization phenotype in autistic and schizotypal tendency, which reflects the schizoid phenotype. Discriminating and independent dimensions of schizotypal and autistic tendency exist in Factors 2 and 3, respectively. Current diagnostic protocols could result in different diagnoses depending on the instrument used, suggesting the need for neuromarkers that objectively differentiate autistic and schizotypal traits and resolve the question of commonality versus co-morbidity.

Appraisals and responses to experimental symptom analogues in clinical and nonclinical individuals with psychotic experiences

OBJECTIVE

Cognitive models of psychosis suggest that anomalous experiences alone do not always lead to clinical psychosis, with appraisals and responses to experiences being central to understanding the transition to "need for care".

METHODS

The appraisals and response styles of Clinical (C; n = 28) and Nonclinical (NC; n = 34) individuals with psychotic experiences were compared following experimental analogues of thought interference (Cards Task) and auditory hallucinations (Virtual Acoustic Space Paradigm).

RESULTS

The groups were matched in terms of their psychotic experiences. As predicted, the C group scored higher than the NC group on maladaptive appraisals following both tasks, rated the experience as more personally significant, and was more likely to incorporate the experimental setup into their ongoing experiences. The C group also appraised the Cards Task as more salient, distressing, and threatening; this group scored higher on maladaptive-and lower on adaptive-response styles, than the NC group on both tasks.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings are consistent with cognitive models of psychosis, with maladaptive appraisals and response styles characterizing the C group only. Clinical applications of both tasks are suggested to facilitate the identification and modification of maladaptive appraisals.

RC2S: A Cognitive Remediation Program to Improve Social Cognition in Schizophrenia and Related Disorders

In people with psychiatric disorders, particularly those suffering from schizophrenia and related illnesses, pronounced difficulties in social interactions are a key manifestation. These difficulties can be partly explained by impairments in social cognition, defined as the ability to understand oneself and others in the social world, which includes abilities such as emotion recognition, theory of mind (ToM), attributional style, and social perception and knowledge. The impact of several kinds of interventions on social cognition has been studied recently. The best outcomes in the area of social cognition in schizophrenia are those obtained by way of cognitive remediation programs. New strategies and programs in this line are currently being developed, such as RC2S (cognitive remediation of social cognition) in Lyon, France. Considering that the social cognitive deficits experienced by patients with schizophrenia are very diverse, and that the main objective of social cognitive remediation programs is to improve patients' functioning in their daily social life, RC2S was developed as an individualized and flexible program that allows patients to practice social interaction in a realistic environment through the use of virtual reality techniques. In the RC2S program, the patient's goal is to assist a character named Tom in various social situations. The underlying idea for the patient is to acquire cognitive strategies for analyzing social context and emotional information in order to understand other characters' mental states and to help Tom manage his social interactions. In this paper, we begin by presenting some data regarding the social cognitive impairments found in schizophrenia and related disorders, and we describe how these deficits are targeted by social cognitive remediation. Then we present the RC2S program and discuss the advantages of computer-based simulation to improve social cognition and social functioning in people with psychiatric disorders.

A meta-analysis of mentalizing impairments in adults with schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorder

Mentalizing has been examined both in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and schizophrenia (SCZ) primarily by either cognitive-linguistic (referred to as verbal) or emotion recognition from eyes (referred to as visual) mentalizing tasks. Each type of task is thought to measure different aspects of mentalizing. Differences in clinical features and developmental courses of each disorder may predict distinct patterns of mentalizing performance across dis orders on each type of task. To test this, a meta-analysis was conducted using 37 studies that assessed mentalizing either verbally or visually in adults with SCZ or ASD. We found that the estimated effect sizes of impairments in verbal and visual mentalizing tasks for both clinical groups were statistically large and at a similar level (overall Hedges' g = 0.73-1.05). For each disorder, adults with SCZ showed a trend towards larger impairments on verbal (overall Hedges' g = 0.99) than on visual mentalizing task (overall Hedges' g = 0.73; Qbet = 3.45, p =.06, df =1). Adults with ASD did not show different levels of impairment on the verbal versus visual tasks (Qbet = 0.08, p =.78, df =1). These results suggest that both clinical groups share, at least in part, some common cognitive processing deficits associated with mentalizing impairments.

Social cognition and neurocognitive deficits in first-episode schizophrenia

BACKGROUND

Recent research has shown a significant impact of social cognitive domains on real world functioning and prognosis in schizophrenia. However, the correlations between specific aspects of social cognition, neurocognition, IQ and clinical symptoms remain unclear in first-episode schizophrenia. Researchers have speculated about social cognitive subgroups since patients with schizophrenia appear to be a very heterogeneous group.

METHODS

Patients with a recent diagnosis of first-episode schizophrenia were tested regarding theory of mind, social perception, neurocognition, IQ, and clinical symptoms.

RESULTS

Data from 36 first-episode schizophrenia patients and 36 one to one matched healthy controls were analysed. Principal component analysis in the patient group was used to examine the variance contributed by different aspects of social cognition, neurocognition, and clinical symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS

Complex aspects of social cognition explained 24% of the variance in the patient group. The other principal components consisted mainly of aspects of simple perception of theory of mind. Neurocognition and clinical symptoms only explained a minor proportion of the variance in the patient group. The results imply that social cognitive deficits in first-episode schizophrenia come in two distinct versions where one is a complex, cognitive demanding form linked with IQ. The other version is related to simpler forms of social cognition and independent of IQ. These two forms are comparable to the implicit and explicit mentalising discussed in the developmental literature. The two forms of social cognitive deficits are likely to require quite different social cognitive interventions.

Remediation of context-processing deficits in schizophrenia: preliminary data with ambiguous sentences

BACKGROUND

Processing of contextual information is essential for the establishment of good interpersonal relations and communicational interactions. Nevertheless, it is known that schizophrenic patients present impairments in the processing of contextual information. The aim of this study is to explore the influence of the remediation of context processing in schizophrenic patients.

METHODS

Thirty-one schizophrenic patients and 28 matched healthy participants were included in this study. All participants were assessed on verbal knowledge (Mill-Hill test) and depression intensity (Beck Depression Scale 21 items). Schizophrenic patients were also assessed on thought, language, and communication disorders (Thought, Language and Communication scale). All participants completed a disambiguation task with two different levels of contextualization (high or low context) and a context-processing remediation task containing social scenarios that included ambiguous words and were presented with two different types of instruction: with or without context explanation.

RESULTS

For the disambiguation task, results showed no effect of group, but a main effect of context, with better performances in the high-context than the low-context condition. For the context-processing remediation task, results showed a main effect of group: The performance of schizophrenic patients who had received explanations differed from that both of healthy participants and of schizophrenic patients who had not received explanations.

CONCLUSION

This study revealed that for all participants, the structuring of context had a positive effect on the contextual integration of ambiguous words. Concerning the remediation task, explanations about the strategies that could be used to take context into account improved the schizophrenic patients' performances. This allows us to consider new methods of remediation that could improve social interaction in schizophrenia.

Neurocognition and symptoms identify links between facial recognition and emotion processing in schizophrenia: meta-analytic findings

BACKGROUND

In schizophrenia patients, one of the most commonly studied deficits of social cognition is emotion processing (EP), which has documented links to facial recognition (FR). But, how are deficits in facial recognition linked to emotion processing deficits? Can neurocognitive and symptom correlates of FR and EP help differentiate the unique contribution of FR to the domain of social cognition?

METHODS

A meta-analysis of 102 studies (combined n=4826) in schizophrenia patients was conducted to determine the magnitude and pattern of relationships between facial recognition, emotion processing, neurocognition, and type of symptom.

RESULTS

Meta-analytic results indicated that facial recognition and emotion processing are strongly interrelated (r=.51). In addition, the relationship between FR and EP through voice prosody (r=.58) is as strong as the relationship between FR and EP based on facial stimuli (r=.53). Further, the relationship between emotion recognition, neurocognition, and symptoms is independent of the emotion processing modality - facial stimuli and voice prosody.

DISCUSSION

The association between FR and EP that occurs through voice prosody suggests that FR is a fundamental cognitive process. The observed links between FR and EP might be due to bottom-up associations between neurocognition and EP, and not simply because most emotion recognition tasks use visual facial stimuli. In addition, links with symptoms, especially negative symptoms and disorganization, suggest possible symptom mechanisms that contribute to FR and EP deficits.

Effects of ketamine on context-processing performance in monkeys: a new animal model of cognitive deficits in schizophrenia

Cognitive deficits are at the crux of why many schizophrenia patients have poor functional outcomes. One of the cognitive symptoms experienced by schizophrenia patients is a deficit in context processing, the ability to use contextual information stored in working memory to adaptively respond to subsequent stimuli. As such, context processing can be thought of as the intersection between working memory and executive control. Although deficits in context processing have been extensively characterized by neuropsychological testing in schizophrenia patients, they have never been effectively translated to an animal model of the disease. To bridge that gap, we trained monkeys to perform the same dot pattern expectancy (DPX) task, which has been used to measure context-processing deficits in human patients with schizophrenia. In the DPX task, the first stimulus in each trial provides the contextual information that subjects must remember in order to appropriately respond to the second stimulus in the trial. We found that administration of ketamine, an N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist, in monkeys caused a dose-dependent failure in context processing, replicating in monkeys the same specific pattern of errors committed by patients with schizophrenia when performing the same task. Therefore, our results provide the first evidence that context-processing dysfunction can be modeled in animals. Replicating a schizophrenia-like behavioral performance pattern in monkeys performing the same task used in humans provides a strong bridge to better understand the biological basis for this psychiatric disease and its cognitive manifestations using animal models.

Reliability and validity of the CogState battery Chinese language version in schizophrenia

Background

Cognitive impairment in patients with schizophrenia is a core symptom of this disease. The computerized CogState Battery (CSB) has been used to detect seven of the most common cognitive domains in schizophrenia. The aim of this study was to examine the reliability and validity of the Chinese version of the CSB (CSB-C), in Chinese patients with schizophrenia.

Methodology/Principal Findings

Sixty Chinese patients with schizophrenia and 58 age, sex, and education matched healthy controls were enrolled. All subjects completed the CSB-C and the Repeated Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS). To examine the test-retest reliability of CSB-C, we tested 33 healthy controls twice, at a one month interval. The Cronbach α value of CSB-C in patients was 0.81. The test-retest correlation coefficients of the Two Back Task, Gronton Maze Learning Task, Social Emotional Cognition Task, and Continuous Paired Association Learning Task were between 0.39 and 0.62 (p<0.01) in healthy controls. The composite scores and all subscores for the CSB-C in patients were significantly (p<0.01) lower than those of healthy controls. Furthermore, composite scores for patients on the RBANS were also significantly lower than those of healthy controls. Interestingly, there was a positive correlation (r  =  0.544, p<0.001) between the composite scores on CSB-C and RBANS for patients. Additionally, in the attention and memory cognitive domains, corresponding subsets from the two batteries correlated significantly (p<0.05). Moreover, factor analysis showed a two-factor model, consisting of speed, memory and reasoning.

Conclusions/Significance

The CSB-C shows good reliability and validity in measuring the broad cognitive domains of schizophrenia in affected Chinese patients. Therefore, the CSB-C can be used as a cognitive battery, to assess the therapeutic effects of potential cognitive-enhancing agents in this cohort.

Understanding advanced theory of mind and empathy in high-functioning adults with autism spectrum disorder

It has been argued that higher functioning individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) have specific deficits in advanced but not simple theory of mind (ToM), yet the questionable ecological validity of some tasks reduces the strength of this assumption. The present study employed The Awareness of Social Inference Test (TASIT), which uses video vignettes to assess comprehension of subtle conversational inferences (sarcasm, lies/deception). Given the proposed relationships between advanced ToM and cognitive and affective empathy, these associations were also investigated. As expected, the high-functioning adults with ASDs demonstrated specific deficits in comprehending the beliefs, intentions, and meaning of nonliteral expressions. They also had significantly lower cognitive and affective empathy. Cognitive empathy was related to ToM and group membership whereas affective empathy was only related to group membership.

Contextual social cognition impairments in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder

Background

The ability to integrate contextual information with social cues to generate social meaning is a key aspect of social cognition. It is widely accepted that patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorders have deficits in social cognition; however, previous studies on these disorders did not use tasks that replicate everyday situations.

Methodology/Principal Findings

This study evaluates the performance of patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorders on social cognition tasks (emotional processing, empathy, and social norms knowledge) that incorporate different levels of contextual dependence and involvement of real-life scenarios. Furthermore, we explored the association between social cognition measures, clinical symptoms and executive functions. Using a logistic regression analysis, we explored whether the involvement of more basic skills in emotional processing predicted performance on empathy tasks. The results showed that both patient groups exhibited deficits in social cognition tasks with greater context sensitivity and involvement of real-life scenarios. These deficits were more severe in schizophrenic than in bipolar patients. Patients did not differ from controls in tasks involving explicit knowledge. Moreover, schizophrenic patients’ depression levels were negatively correlated with performance on empathy tasks.

Conclusions/Significance

Overall performance on emotion recognition predicted performance on intentionality attribution during the more ambiguous situations of the empathy task. These results suggest that social cognition deficits could be related to a general impairment in the capacity to implicitly integrate contextual cues. Important implications for the assessment and treatment of individuals with schizophrenia and bipolar disorders, as well as for neurocognitive models of these pathologies are discussed.

Symptom domains and neurocognitive functioning can help differentiate social cognitive processes in schizophrenia: a meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

The existence of deficits in several social cognitive domains has been established in schizophrenia, and those impairments are known to be a significant determinant of functional outcome. Both symptoms and neurocognition have been linked to social cognitive deficits, but the nature and the relative strength of these relationships have not been established.

METHODS

A meta-analysis of 154 studies (combined N = 7175) was conducted to determine the magnitude of the relationships between 3 symptom domains (reality distortion, disorganization, and negative symptoms) and 6 Measurement and Treatment Research to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia (MATRICS) domains of neurocognition with 4 domains of social cognition. Analyses were conducted to determine whether the strength of these relationships differed depending on the symptom type or neurocognitive domain under investigation.

RESULTS

The correlations between reality distortion and the domains of social cognition ranged from near zero to moderate (r's range from -.07 to -.22), as compared with the moderate association for disorganization (r's range from -.22 to -.32) and negative symptoms (r's range from -.20 to -.26). For each of the neurocognitive domains, the relationships to social cognitive domains were mostly moderate (r's range from .17 to .37), with no one neurocognitive domain being prominent.

CONCLUSIONS

The effect sizes of the correlations between disorganization and negative symptoms with social cognition were relatively larger and more consistent than reality distortion. The relationship between social cognition and 6 MATRICS domains of neurocognition were mostly moderate and relatively consistent. When considering disorganization and negative symptoms, the relationship to social cognitive processes was relatively as strong as for neurocognition.

From social experience to illness experience: reviewing the psychological mechanisms linking psychosis with social context

This review was undertaken to describe the psychological processes that are associated with the social experiences and behaviours of people with psychosis. A systematic search was conducted using MEDLINE and PsycINFO search engines. In each of the major topic domains, the search was comprised of review articles published from 2004 to present, and individual article searches for papers published from 2010 to present. The key psychological mechanisms in this context are social cognition, self-concept, emotion, and communication. While diverse in content, there were several cross-cutting themes in these literatures. These include evidence of the presence of social processing difficulties in high-risk and psychosis populations that have both state and trait characteristics, are related to, but not fully accounted for by, neurocognition and symptomatology, and have significant implications for social functioning. There are numerous established and promising treatments linked to our understanding of social cognition. Limitations cutting across these literatures include a substantial reliance on cross-sectional studies that use control groups comprised of people who have not experienced significant psychological or social adversity. There is also limited inquiry into how psychological mechanisms may differ owing to sex, ethnicity, and race. Despite these issues, this line of inquiry is very promising as part of the larger movement toward an integrative model of psychosis that is able to account for the complex interactions of social, biological, and psychological risks.

Dimensions of attention impairment and negative symptoms in schizophrenia: a multidimensional approach using the conners continuous performance test in a Spanish population

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study was to assess the specific features of attention impairment in patients with schizophrenia and the correlation between those features and the patients' clinical status.

METHODS

We administered the Conners Continuous Performance Test (CPT-II), with cognitive and clinical scales, to 40 Spanish inpatients with schizophrenia and 40 healthy controls, and used a cross-sectional design to compare the groups' performances. We identified correlations between the measures and used multiple regression analyses to develop models showing how attention impairment contributed to clinical status.

RESULTS

The patients with schizophrenia showed significantly poorer performance than controls in 5 CPT-II measures that were related to focused attention. We also found that CPT-II measures primarily linked to focused attention had a significant association with negative symptoms. These CPT-II measures predicted 37% of the variability in negative symptoms in the regression model. We observed a more modest relationship among CPT-II measures of disorganized thought symptoms, global functioning, and general cognitive performance.

CONCLUSIONS

Attention impairment in schizophrenia primarily involves difficulty in focusing attention, mainly related to negative symptoms. By contrast, sustained attention and vigilance seem to be affected only as a secondary consequence of the impairment to focusing attention.

Emotional context processing in severe mental illness: scale development and preliminary construct validity

There is growing recognition that emotional context may play an important role in emotion perception and severe mental illness (SMI). Limited instruments directly assess and adequately account for emotional context processing. To measure this construct in schizophrenia research, this study aimed to develop and validate the Emotional Context Processing Scale (ECOS) using cartoon portrayals originally developed by Masuda et al. (2008). In Study 1, we piloted the measure with 99 college students and selected 20 cartoon portrayals (4 simple emotions only+16 simple emotions with contextual emotions). In Study 2, we confirmed the emotion-specificity and factor structure of the measure by administering it to 73 individuals with SMI. Item response theory (IRT) modeling confirmed a 4-factor structure of the ECOS, providing evidence that emotional context processing is specific to particular emotions. Internal consistency of the ECOS subscales ranged from 0.61 to 0.83. In Study 3, we examined the convergent and divergent validity of the ECOS in a separate sample of 36 individuals with SMI. Even after controlling for facial affect perception, the ECOS is uniquely related to multi-modal emotion perception and executive functioning measures.

Contextual social cognition and the behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia

The significance of social situations is commonly context-embedded. Although the role of context has been extensively studied in basic sensory processing or simple stimulus-response settings, its relevance for social cognition is unknown. We propose the social context network model (SCNM), a fronto-insular-temporal network responsible for processing social contextual effects. The SCNM may 1) update the context and use it to make predictions, 2) coordinate internal and external milieus, and 3) consolidate context-target associative learning. We suggest the behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) as a specific disorder in which the reported deficits in social cognition (e.g., facial recognition, empathy, decision-making, figurative language, theory of mind) can be described as context impairments due to deficits in the SCNM. Disruption of orbitofrontal-amygdala circuit, as well as the frontal, temporal, and insular atrophy in bVFTD, suggests a relationship between context-sensitive social cognition and SCNM. In considering context as an intrinsic part of social cognition, we highlight the need for a situated cognition approach in social cognition research as opposed to an abstract, universal, and decontextualized approach. The assessment of context-dependent social cognition paradigms, the SCNM, and their possible application to neuropsychiatric disorders may provide new insight into bvFTD and other related frontal disorders.

The effect of emotional context on facial emotion ratings in schizophrenia

Individuals with schizophrenia show deficits both in facial emotion recognition and context processing (Kohler, C.G., Walker, J.B., Martin, E.A., Healey, K.M., Moberg, P.J., 2010. Facial emotion perception in schizophrenia: a meta-analytic review. Schizophr. Bull. 36, 1009-1019). Recent evidence suggests context information can affect facial emotion recognition (Aviezer, H., Bentin, S., Hassin, R.R., Meschino, W.S., Kennedy, J., Grewal, S., Esmail, S., Cohen, S., Moscovitch, M., 2009. Not on the face alone: perception of contextualized face expressions in Huntington's disease. Brain 132, 1633-1644). Thus, individuals with schizophrenia may have deficits in facial emotion processing, at least in part, due to impairments in processing context information (Green, M.J., Waldron, J.H., Coltheart, M., 2007. Emotional context processing is impaired in schizophrenia. Cogn. Neuropsychiatry 12, 259-280.). We used a novel experimental task, the Emotion Context Processing Task (ECPT) to examine the influences of emotional context (IAPS pictures) on the processing of subtle surprised faces in schizophrenia. One of the task conditions included a manipulation designed to determine whether enhancing attention to the context (by requiring a categorization judgment on the context pictures) would facilitate the influence of context on facial emotion processing in schizophrenia. In addition, we tested whether deficits on a non-social context processing would predict deficits in the influence of context on facial emotion processing in schizophrenia. We administered the Dot Probe Expectancy Task (a non-social context processing task) and the ECPT to individuals with schizophrenia (n=35) and healthy controls (n=32). Individuals with schizophrenia showed an intact influence of context information on facial emotion recognition. The manipulation designed to enhance attention to emotional context reduced the effect of context for both groups. In schizophrenia, better processing of non-social context was associated with a stronger influence of context on valence ratings of facial expressions in the negative context condition. These results suggest in schizophrenia, similar mechanisms may influence the processing of context for both social and non-social information.

Rapid communication: Impaired conditional task performance in a high schizotypy population: Relation to cognitive deficits

Cognitive impairments in schizophrenia have been characterized as reflecting a core deficit in the maintenance or use of task-setting cues to mediate appropriate ongoing behaviour. This analysis suggests that cognitive deficits in schizophrenia will be particularly evident when different task-setting cues dictate when different responses are required by the same stimuli. One simple task in which task-setting cues are required is a biconditional discrimination. Here we examined the performance of participants with high and low schizotypy scores (Mason, Claridge, & Jackson, 1995) on a biconditional discrimination and an otherwise equivalent, control discrimination that did not require the use of task-setting cues. Participants scoring highly on the Introvertive Anhedonia subscale (which has been allied to the negative and cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia) performed poorly on the biconditional, but not on the control, discrimination. No other subscales demonstrated a significant influence on either biconditional or control performance.