Navigating Social Cognitive Impairments in Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders: Protocol for a Pilot Pre-Post Quasi-Experimental Study for Remote Avatar-Assisted Cognitive Remediation Therapy.

Background: Social cognitive impairments are prevalent in schizophrenia spectrum disorder (SSD) and have detrimental effects on functioning. Cognitive remediation (CR) has shown its efficacy in improving social cognitive impairments, although the transfer of these skills to daily life and the personalization of these interventions remain challenging. RC2S (Remédiation Cognitive de la Cognition Sociale dans la Schizophrénie; Cognitive remediation of social cognition in Schizophrenia) is a French CR that combines the learning of strategies and practice using paper-and-pencil exercises and digital relational simulations.

When Alterations in Social Cognition Meet Subjective Complaints in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Evaluation With the "ClaCoS" Battery.

Deficit in social communication is a core feature in Autism Spectrum Disorder but remains poorly assessed in classical clinical practice, especially in adult populations. This gap between needs and practice is partly due to a lack of standardized evaluation tools. The multicentric Research group in psychiatry GDR3557 (Institut de Psychiatrie) developed a new battery for social cognitive evaluation named "ClaCoS," which allows testing the main components of social cognition: Emotion Recognition, Theory of Mind, Attributional Style, and Social Perception and Knowledge.

Social perception and knowledge impairments in severe alcohol use disorder: Group and individual-level findings.

Background: Consistent data highlight the presence and clinical significance of social cognition impairments in severe alcohol use disorder (SAUD). However, social perception and knowledge (i.e.

Erotomania and phenotypic continuum in a family frameshift variant of AUTS2: a case report and review.

Background: Pathogenic variants of the AUTS2 (Autism Susceptibility candidate 2) gene predispose to intellectual disability, autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, facial dysmorphism and short stature. This phenotype is therefore associated with neurocognitive disturbances and social cognition, indicating potential functional maladjustment in the affected subjects, and a potentially significant impact on quality of life. Although many isolated cases have been reported in the literature, to date no families have been described.

Tackling heterogeneity: Individual variability of emotion decoding deficits in severe alcohol use disorder.

Background: Severe alcohol use disorder (SAUD) is associated with social cognition deficits. Patients with SAUD are impaired for the recognition of emotional facial expressions, particularly at early stages of abstinence. These deficits damage interpersonal relations and increase relapse risk.

Hostile attributional bias in severe alcohol use disorder.

Impairments in social cognition have been documented in severe alcohol use disorder (SAUD) over the past two decades. They have been linked with lower social functioning and poor treatment outcomes, illustrating their key role in the disorder. However, studies investigating social cognition in SAUD have largely focused on emotional decoding and theory of mind abilities, neglecting other important processes.

A Transnosographic Self-Assessment of Social Cognitive Impairments (ACSO): First Data.

Social cognition refers to the mental operations underlying social interactions. Given the major role of social cognitive deficits in the disability associated with severe psychiatric disorders, they therefore constitute a crucial therapeutic target. However, no easily understandable and transnosographic self-assessment scale evaluating the perceived difficulties is available.

Is social cognitive training efficient in autism? A pilot single-case study using the RC2S+ program.

In high-functioning autism, deficits in emotional processing and theory of mind are relevant to understanding the particularities of social functioning. Here we used a multiple baseline and ABA single-case design to assess the efficacy of an individualized social cognitive training program using both pen-and-paper and computerized materials for an 18-year old patient. After the treatment phase, we found significant improvement in both emotional processes and theory of mind.

Exploratory case study of monozygotic twins with 22q11.2DS provides further clues to circumscribe neurocognitive markers of psychotic symptoms.

Variation in facial emotion processing abilities may contribute to variability in penetrance for psychotic symptoms in 22q11.2DS. However, the precise nature of the social cognitive dysfunction (i.

What do error patterns in processing facial expressions, social interaction scenes and vocal prosody tell us about the way social cognition works in children with 22q11.2DS?

Impairments in social cognition have been frequently described in 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11.2DS) and are thought to be a hallmark of difficulties in social interactions.

Do patients from the Democratic Republic of Congo with schizophrenia have facial emotion recognition deficits?

Patients with schizophrenia can have difficulty recognizing emotion, and the impact of this difficulty on social functioning has been widely reported. However, earlier studies did not thoroughly explore how this deficit may vary according to emotion intensity, or how it may differ among individuals and across cultures. In the present study, our aim was to identify possible deficits in facial emotion recognition across a wide range of emotions of different intensities among patients with schizophrenia from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

From "under" to "over" social cognition in schizophrenia: Is there distinct profiles of impairments according to negative and positive symptoms?

Interactions between social cognition and symptoms of schizophrenia have been investigated, but mostly component by component. Here we tested the assumption that two categories of deficits exist depending on clinical profiles, one corresponding to a defect in social cognition - "under-social cognition" - and one corresponding to excessive attributions leading to social cognitive impairments - "over-social cognition". To conduct the investigation, we performed a Hierarchical Clustering Analysis using positive and negative symptoms in seventy patients with schizophrenia and we compared the clusters obtained to a group of healthy controls on social cognitive measures.

Computer-based cognitive remediation program for the treatment of behavioral problems in children with intellectual disability: the «COGNITUS & MOI» study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Comorbid psychiatric disorders are frequent in children with intellectual disability (ID). Given the limitations of drugs treatments, cognitive remediation could be a promising tool to reduce these challenging behaviors but evidence is still scarce. Our group recently developed the «COGNITUS & MOI» program that is designed to train the attentional and visuospatial skills in children with ID.

Overview of Social Cognitive Dysfunctions in Rare Developmental Syndromes With Psychiatric Phenotype.

Rare neurodevelopmental syndromes often present social cognitive deficits that may underlie difficulties in social interactions and increase the risk of psychosis or autism spectrum disorders. However, little is known regarding the specificities of social cognitive impairment across syndromes while it remains a major challenge for the care. Our review provides an overview of social cognitive dysfunctions in rare diseases associated with psychiatric symptoms (with a prevalence estimated between 1 in 1,200 and 1 in 25,000 live births: 22q11.

Subthreshold social cognitive deficits may be a key to distinguish 22q11.2DS from schizophrenia.

Aim: Social cognitive impairments are core features in 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11.2DS) and schizophrenia (SCZ).

Social cognition in Wilson's disease: A new phenotype?

Studies focusing on neuropsychological impairments in Wilson's disease (WD) have highlighted that patients showing neurological signs present significant deficits in a wide range of cognitive domains. Attentional and executive impairments have also been described in people with hepatic WD. However, social cognition abilities, i.

Autism spectrum disorder associated with 49,XYYYY: case report and review of the literature.

Background: Sex chromosome aneuploidies occur in approximately one in 420 live births. The most frequent abnormalities are 45,X (Turner syndrome), 47,XXX (triple X), 47,XXY (Klinefelter syndrome), and 47,XYY. The prevalence of males with more than one extra sex chromosome (e.

Dissociating Affective and Cognitive Theory of Mind in Recently Detoxified Alcohol-Dependent Individuals.

Background: Emotional and interpersonal impairments have been widely described in alcohol dependence, and their role in relapse has been clearly established. However, several components of social cognition have not been well explored in this context. Particularly, Theory of Mind (ToM) abilities, which are critical social skills enabling one to understand others' perspectives, and which have been largely investigated in other psychiatric populations, remain to be measured using ecological tasks in individuals with alcohol dependence.

Improving Social Cognition in People with Schizophrenia with RC2S: Two Single-Case Studies.

Difficulties in social interactions are a central characteristic of people with schizophrenia, and can be partly explained by impairments of social cognitive processes. New strategies of cognitive remediation have been recently developed to target these deficits. The RC2S therapy is an individualized and partly computerized program through which patients practice social interactions and develop social cognitive abilities with simulation techniques in a realistic environment.

«Cognitus & Moi»: A Computer-Based Cognitive Remediation Program for Children with Intellectual Disability.

Attentional, visuospatial, and social cognition deficits have a negative impact on children's adaptative and social competences and, as a result, on their ability to achieve a normal functioning and behavior. Until now and despite the frequency of those deficits, there is a lack of children's specific cognitive remediation tools specifically dedicated to attentional and visuospatial areas. The «Cognitus & Moi» program involves a variety of exercises in a paper and/or pencil (n = 30) or a computerized format (n = 29) and a strategy coaching approach.

The intentionality bias in schizophrenia.

The tendency to over-interpret events of daily life as resulting from voluntary or intentional actions is one of the key aspects of schizophrenia with persecutory delusions. Here, we ask whether this characteristic may emerge from the abnormal activity of a basic cognitive process found in healthy adults and children: the intentionality bias, which refers to the implicit and automatic inclination to interpret human actions as intentional (Rosset, 2008, Cognition 108, 771-780). In our experiment, patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls were shown sentences describing human actions in various linguistic contexts, and were asked to indicate whether the action was intentional or not.

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.