Social dysfunction is commonly present in neuropsychiatric disorders of schizophrenia (SZ) and Alzheimer's disease (AD). Theory of Mind (ToM) deficits have been linked to social dysfunction in... Show moreSocial dysfunction is commonly present in neuropsychiatric disorders of schizophrenia (SZ) and Alzheimer's disease (AD). Theory of Mind (ToM) deficits have been linked to social dysfunction in disease-specific studies. Nevertheless, it remains unclear how ToM is related to social functioning across these disorders, and which factors contribute to this relationship. We investigated transdiagnostic associations between ToM and social functioning among SZ/AD patients and healthy controls, and explored to what extent these associations relate to information processing speed or facial emotion recognition capacity. A total of 163 participants were included (SZ: n=56, AD: n=50 and age-matched controls: n=57). Social functioning was assessed with the Social Functioning Scale (SFS) and the De Jong-Gierveld Loneliness Scale (LON). ToM was measured with the Hinting Task. Information processing speed was measured by the Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST) and facial emotion recognition capacity by the facial emotion recognition task (FERT). Case-control deficits in Hinting Task performance were larger in AD (r(rb) = -0.57) compared to SZ (r(rb) = -0.35). Poorer Hinting Task performance was transdiagnostically associated with the SFS (beta(Hinting-Task) = 1.20, p<0.01) and LON (beta(Hinting-Task) = 0.27, p<0.05). DSST, but not FERT, reduced the association between the SFS and Hinting Task performance, however the association remained significant (beta(Hinting-Task) = 0.95, p<0.05). DSST and FERT performances did not change the association between LON and Hinting Task performance. Taken together, ToM deficits are transdiagnostically associated with social dysfunction and this is partly related to reduced information processing speed. (C) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. Show less
Torre-Luque, A. de la; Viera-Campos, A.; Bilderbeck, A.C.; Carreras, M.T.; Vivancos, J.; Diaz-Caneja, C.M.; ... ; Arango, C. 2022
Background: Emotion recognition constitutes a pivotal process of social cognition. It involves decoding social cues (e.g., facial expressions) to maximise social adjustment. Current theoretical... Show moreBackground: Emotion recognition constitutes a pivotal process of social cognition. It involves decoding social cues (e.g., facial expressions) to maximise social adjustment. Current theoretical models posit the relationship between social withdrawal factors (social disengagement, lack of social interactions and loneliness) and emotion decoding. Objective: To investigate the role of social withdrawal in patients with schizophrenia (SZ) or probable Alzheimer's disease (AD), neuropsychiatric conditions associated with social dysfunction. Methods: A sample of 156 participants was recruited: schizophrenia patients (SZ; n = 53), Alzheimer's disease patients (AD; n = 46), and two age-matched control groups (SZc, n = 29; ADc, n = 28). All participants provided self-report measures of loneliness and social functioning, and completed a facial emotion detection task. Results: Neuropsychiatric patients (both groups) showed poorer performance in detecting both positive and negative emotions compared with their healthy counterparts (p < .01). Social withdrawal was associated with higher accuracy in negative emotion detection, across all groups. Additionally, neuropsychiatric patients with higher social withdrawal showed lower positive emotion misclassification. Conclusions: Our findings help to detail the similarities and differences in social function and facial emotion recognition in two disorders rarely studied in parallel, AD and SZ. Transdiagnostic patterns in these results suggest that social withdrawal is associated with heightened sensitivity to negative emotion expressions, potentially reflecting hypervigilance to social threat. Across the neuropsychiatric groups specifically, this hypervigilance associated with social withdrawal extended to positive emotion expressions, an emotionalcognitive bias that may impact social functioning in people with severe mental illness. Show less
Porcelli, S.; Wee, N. van der; Werff, S. van der; Aghajani, M.; Glennon, J.C.; Heukelum, S. van; ... ; Serretti, A. 2019
The human social brain is complex. Current knowledge fails to define the neurobiological processes underlying social behaviour involving the (patho-) physiological mechanisms that link system-level... Show moreThe human social brain is complex. Current knowledge fails to define the neurobiological processes underlying social behaviour involving the (patho-) physiological mechanisms that link system-level phenomena to the multiple hierarchies of brain function. Unfortunately, such a high complexity may also be associated with a high susceptibility to several pathogenic interventions. Consistently, social deficits sometimes represent the first signs of a number of neuropsychiatric disorders including schizophrenia (SCZ), Alzheimer's disease (AD) and major depressive disorder (MDD) which leads to a progressive social dysfunction. In the present review we summarize present knowledge linking neurobiological substrates sustaining social functioning, social dysfunction and social withdrawal in major psychiatric disorders. Interestingly, AD, SCZ, and MDD affect the social brain in similar ways. Thus, social dysfunction and its most evident clinical expression (i.e., social withdrawal) may represent an innovative transdiagnostic domain, with the potential of being an independent entity in terms of biological roots, with the perspective of targeted interventions. Show less
Bilderbeck, A.C.; Penninx, B.W.J.H.; Arango, C.; Wee, N. van der; Kahn, R.; Winter-van Rossum, I.; ... ; Dawson, G.R. 2019
Trans-diagnostic, domain- or symptom-focused approaches have been heralded as advancing psychiatric research, but relatively few clinical research programmes have been undertaken to leverage their... Show moreTrans-diagnostic, domain- or symptom-focused approaches have been heralded as advancing psychiatric research, but relatively few clinical research programmes have been undertaken to leverage their potential. In this manuscript we describe the approach and protocol for an exploratory study, PRISM (Psychiatric Ratings using Intermediate Stratified Markers), that will be conducted to explore the biomarkers in schizophrenia (SZ) and Alzheimer's Disease (AD) that may be related to a common symptom, social withdrawal. Patient participants (N = 72 SZ and N = 72 AD study completers), will complete a series of fMRI, EEG, and behavioural paradigms, as well as contributing blood-derived (e.g. epigenetic) and smartphone data related to social behaviour. Self- as well as caregiver- and researcher-reported assessments will be provided to characterise social withdrawal. Normative data will also be collected from a group of healthy controls (N = 48 study completers), half of whom will be matched in terms of age and gender distribution to the SZ and AD group, respectively. Thus we will explore both differentiation and cross-diagnostic overlap in the biomarkers associated with different levels of social withdrawal in SZ and AD. In this way we aim to provide a deeper understanding of the biological underpinnings of symptomatology common to both disorders, and provide insights into novel treatment targets and future drug development approaches. Show less
