scholarly journals The enactive mind, or from actions to cognition: lessons from autism

2003 ◽  
Vol 358 (1430) ◽  
pp. 345-360 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ami Klin ◽  
Warren Jones ◽  
Robert Schultz ◽  
Fred Volkmar
Keyword(s):  
Social Cognition ◽  
Social Cognitive ◽  
Search For Meaning ◽  
Social Situations ◽  
Social Stimuli ◽  
Surrounding Environment ◽  
Bodily Experiences ◽  
Embodied Cognitive Science ◽  
Cognitive Problems ◽  
Adaptive Actions

Normative–IQ individuals with autism are capable of solving explicit social cognitive problems at a level that is not matched by their ability to meet the demands of everyday social situations. The magnitude of this discrepancy is now being documented through newer techniques such as eye tracking, which allows us to see and measure how individuals with autism search for meaning when presented with naturalistic social scenes. This paper offers an approach to social cognitive development intended to address the above discrepancy, which is considered a key element for any understanding of the pathophysiology of autism. This approach, called the enactive mind (EM), originates from the emerging work on ‘embodied cognitive science’, a neuroscience framework that views cognition as bodily experiences accrued as a result of an organism's adaptive actions upon salient aspects of the surrounding environment. The EM approach offers a developmental hypothesis of autism in which the process of acquisition of embodied social cognition is derailed early on, as a result of reduced salience of social stimuli and concomitant enactment of socially irrelevant aspects of the environment.

scholarly journals M69. IMPROVING VISUAL ATTENTION TO SOCIAL STIMULI IN INDIVIDUALS WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA

2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S161-S162
Author(s):  
Hans Klein ◽  
Amy Pinkham
Keyword(s):  
Social Cognition ◽  
Data Collection ◽  
Visual Attention ◽  
Social Cognitive ◽  
The Other ◽  
Cognitive Tasks ◽  
Social Stimuli ◽  
Interim Analyses ◽  
Sham Stimulation ◽  
Stimulation Of

Abstract Background Social dysfunction is a hallmark characteristic of schizophrenia, and individuals with this disorder often report difficulty navigating daily social interactions. Perceptual deficits, such as faulty visual attention to important aspects of social stimuli (i.e., failing to look at the most relevant portions of a stimulus), may be one mechanism by which social deficits arise. Faulty modulation of specific neural regions such as the right temporoparietal junction (rTPJ), may underlie visual attention abnormalities, and may act as suitable targets for neurostimulation. The current study utilizes neurostimulation to experimentally manipulate specific neural networks and determine whether stimulation 1) improves visual attention, 2) improves performance on social cognitive tasks, and 3) whether altered visual attention moderates this improved performance. Methods Using a double-blind crossover design, participants underwent both active and sham stimulation via tDCS approximately one week apart. Half of the participants received active and sham stimulation of rTPJ (n = 22), while the other half received active and sham stimulation of a comparator site within the social brain network (dmPFC, n = 23). After stimulation, visual attention was assessed through concurrent eye-tracking while participants complete several tasks of social cognition (emotion recognition: ER40, BLERT; Theory of Mind: TASIT). Visual attention was determined as the proportion of time spent attending to socially and contextually important AOIs. Results Data collection and data processing are still ongoing for this study, however planned interim analyses on a subset of the total sample (n = 45) indicate small to medium effects of active stimulation to the rTPJ compared to sham and dmPFC stimulation for both visual attention (ηp2=.035) and social cognitive performance on the BLERT task (ηp2=.067), specifically. These same effects are not seen in the other social cognitive tasks. Final analyses based on a sample size of 72 individuals are expected to be complete prior to presentation at SIRS 2020. Discussion This study is the first, to our knowledge, to target this neural region within schizophrenia for the purposes of improving visual attention and, subsequently, social cognition. Should the pattern of results from our interim analyses hold after completion of data collection, results indicate that active stimulation to the rTPJ has a unique impact on dynamic emotional stimuli, improving visual attention and accuracy in emotion recognition, suggesting a primary role of the rTPJ and visual attention in performance on this task. The intricate design of this study allows for thorough investigation of potential mechanisms by which social cognitive deficits develop, and the use of novel experimental techniques align with the theme of this year’s conference.

scholarly journals Heritability of social cognitive skills in children and adolescents

1999 ◽  
Vol 175 (6) ◽  
pp. 559-564 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane Scourfield ◽  
Neilson Martin ◽  
Glyn Lewis ◽  
Peter McGuffin
Keyword(s):  
Social Cognition ◽  
Cognitive Skills ◽  
Social Cognitive ◽  
Environmental Influences ◽  
Population Based ◽  
Genetic Influence ◽  
Behaviour Problems ◽  
Social Situations ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Age Related Changes

BackgroundSocial cognitive skills are those which enable understanding of social situations; they are relevant to a variety of psychiatric disorders including autism, schizophrenia and externalising behaviour problems in children.AimsTo examine the heritability of social cognitive skills.MethodUsing a population-based sample of twins aged 5–17, the genetic and environmental influences on social cognitive skills were examined.ResultsMale scores were higher than female scores (P < 0.001), indicating poorer social cognition among males. A heritability of 0.68 (95% CI 0.43–0.78) was found, with shared environmental influences accounting for only 0.05 of the variance (95% CI 0.00–0.28). This could be removed from the model without worsening the fit. There were no significant differences in genetic effects between the genders, but age-related changes were found, with younger twins showing greater genetic influence on social cognition.ConclusionsSocial cognition appears to be under considerable genetic influence in the population and shows significant male–female differences. No gender differences in genetic influences on the variance of scores were found, but the effects of age were significant.

scholarly journals Decision Making: A Core Problem of Social Cognition

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Auditi Pramanik
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Cognition ◽  
Social Context ◽  
Social Cognitive ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Social Situations ◽  
Psychological Mechanisms ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Many ◽  
Social Cognitive Theories

Successful decision making involves our ability to understand the intensions, emotions and beliefs of other people. An important feature of decision making in a social setting concern the interaction of areas and Social cognition is an integral part of social psychology, which deals with the psychological mechanisms that mediate the individual’s responses to the social environment. Notable to social cognitive theories are the ideas which are applied and extended to many concepts, theories, models and paradigms from cognitive psychology in social context. This approach leads to remarkable progress in understanding of social scenario, people’s decisions and also offers insights into social issues. It helps to understand reactions of people in social context. Decision making is just one of the many areas in which social cognition has an important role. Decision making is a complex cognitive skill. Social cognition attempts to explain the broad social aspects of human experience, such as how decision making are influenced by the presence of others as well as the social situations in which they find themselves. This article presents a fundamental idea of social cognitive perspective of decision making process and factors that influence our decisions.

Mirror-Touch Synaesthesia

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frédérique de Vignemont
Keyword(s):  
Social Cognition ◽  
Bodily Experiences ◽  
Tactile Sensations

Individuals with mirror-touch synaesthesia report consciously feeling tactile sensations on their own body when they see another person being touched. They have what may be called vicarious tactile sensations. Vicarious tactile sensations may almost seem unbelievable. How could one feel from the inside someone else’s sensations? First, I will focus on the intersubjective dimension of vicarious touch. In particular, I will examine whether it constitutes a kind of empathy. I will then argue that vicarious touch cannot be taken as evidence in favour of embodied social cognition. Second, I will focus on the intermodal dimension of vicarious touch. I will show how it differs from standard cases of idiosyncratic synaesthesia. I will then argue that it is a by-product of the multimodal nature of non-vicarious bodily experiences.

scholarly journals Is Emotional Intelligence Impaired in Unaffected Siblings of Patients with Schizophrenia?

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (7) ◽  
pp. 577-583 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beatrice Frajo-Apor ◽  
Georg Kemmler ◽  
Silvia Pardeller ◽  
Markus Huber ◽  
Christian Macina ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Intelligence ◽  
Social Cognition ◽  
Social Cognitive ◽  
Mental Illnesses ◽  
Control Subjects ◽  
Brief Assessment ◽  
Performance Patterns ◽  
Healthy Control ◽  
Social Cognitive Deficits ◽  
And Control

AbstractObjectives:Social cognitive deficits have been discussed to be endophenotypes for schizophrenia and other serious mental illnesses. The current study aimed to assess emotional intelligence (EI) in unaffected siblings of schizophrenia patients to investigate its potential role as endophenotype for schizophrenia.Methods:EI was measured in 56 schizophrenia patients, 57 unaffected siblings, and 127 healthy control subjects by using the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT). In addition, non-social cognition was assessed with the Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia (BACS). Linear mixed models with compound symmetric correlation structure were used for of the three groups with respect to EI and non-social cognition.Results:Schizophrenia patients showed significantly lower overall EI and performed significantly worse in three out of four MSCEIT branches compared to unaffected siblings and control subjects, whereas the two latter groups had comparable EI levels. Similar performance patterns (patients<unaffected siblings=control subjects) were found with respect to non-social cognition. Solely in the “Tower of London” test, siblings achieved significantly lower task scores compared to control subjects.Conclusions:Based on our results, EI as measured with the MSCEIT does not seem to represent a marker of risk for schizophrenia. Further investigations should concentrate on other EI measures to reassess this finding. (JINS, 2017,23, 577–583)

Percezione sociale e paranoia: una rassegna

2009 ◽  
pp. 123-141
Author(s):  
Dennis R. Combs ◽  
Dustin J: Chapman ◽  
Casey Reneau
Keyword(s):  
Social Cognition ◽  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Attributional Style ◽  
Social Perception ◽  
Social Cognitive ◽  
Persecutory Delusions ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Area Of Interest ◽  
Current State ◽  
Interest In Research

- There has been an increased interest in research on paranoia and persecutory delusions. This is partly based on the idea that paranoia exists on a continuum ranging from sub-clinical to clinical levels. One area of interest is in social cognition as it may provide methods to understand how persons with paranoia perceive, interpret, and understand their social world. Previous research has showed that social cognition directly influences or mediates social functioning. Paranoia can be ideally approached from a social cognitive perspective, which makes understanding these processes even more important. For this review, we will focus on the current state of knowledge for paranoia as it pertains to the three primary domains of social cognition: 1) emotion/social perception, 2) theory of mind, and 3) attributional style. Deficits in emotion/social perception appear to be found across the paranoia continuum. In contrast, deficits in theory of mind and attributional style are typically found in persons with clinical levels of paranoia. Future studies should focus on understanding the processes that might underlie the deficits.

scholarly journals Social Cognition in 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome and Idiopathic Developmental Neuropsychiatric Disorders

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rhideeta Jalal ◽  
Aarti Nair ◽  
Amy Lin ◽  
Ariel Eckfeld ◽  
Leila Kushan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Cognition ◽  
Social Behavior ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Social Cognitive ◽  
22Q11.2 Deletion Syndrome ◽  
Neuropsychiatric Disorders ◽  
Intellectual Functioning ◽  
Deletion Syndrome ◽  
Neurocognitive Deficits ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract Background: 22q11.2 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. Methods: We 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, 2 nd edition (WASI-II) to assess intellectual functioning. Results: The 22q11DS group exhibited significantly lower social cognitive abilities compared to all other groups, even after controlling for intellectual functioning. 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. Conclusions: Our 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.

scholarly journals Social Cognition in 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome and Idiopathic Developmental Neuropsychiatric Disorders

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rhideeta Jalal ◽  
Aarti Nair ◽  
Amy Lin ◽  
Ariel Eckfeld ◽  
Leila Kushan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Cognition ◽  
Social Behavior ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Social Cognitive ◽  
22Q11.2 Deletion Syndrome ◽  
Neuropsychiatric Disorders ◽  
Intellectual Functioning ◽  
Deletion Syndrome ◽  
Neurocognitive Deficits ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract Background 22q11.2 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. Methods We examined social cognition and intellectual functioning in 306 participants (mean age = 16.63+/-4.59; % female = 44.8%): sixty-eight with 22q11DS, 49 youth with first episode psychosis (FEP), 48 at clinical high-risk (CHR) for psychosis, 24 participants with ASD, and 117 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, 2 nd edition (WASI-II) to assess intellectual functioning. Results The 22q11DS group exhibited significantly lower social cognitive abilities compared to all other groups, even after controlling for intellectual functioning. 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. Conclusions Our 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.

scholarly journals Neurocomputational mechanisms of confidence in self and others

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan Bang ◽  
Rani Moran ◽  
Nathaniel Douglass Daw ◽  
Stephen M Fleming
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Cognition ◽  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Social Situations ◽  
Self And Other ◽  
Difficult Decision ◽  
Substantial Progress ◽  
Decision Difficulty

Computing confidence in one's own and others' decisions is crucial for success in many social situations. There has been substantial progress in our understanding of confidence in oneself, but little is known about how we form confidence in others. Here, we address this question by asking subjects undergoing fMRI to place bets on perceptual decisions made by themselves or one of three other players of varying ability. We show that subjects' compute confidence in another player's decisions by combining distinct estimates of player ability and decision difficulty - allowing them to predict that a good player may get a difficult decision wrong and that a bad player may get an easy decision right. We find that this computation is supported by an interaction between brain systems traditionally implicated in decision-making (LIP) and theory of mind (TPJ, dmPFC). These results reveal a neurocomputational interplay between self- and other-related processes during social cognition.

scholarly journals Are There Gender Differences in Social Cognition in First-Episode Psychosis?

Women ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 204-211
Author(s):  
Marina Verdaguer-Rodríguez ◽  
Raquel López-Carrilero ◽  
Marta Ferrer-Quintero ◽  
Helena García-Mieres ◽  
Luciana Díaz-Cutraro ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Social Cognition ◽  
Attributional Style ◽  
Social Cognitive ◽  
First Episode Psychosis ◽  
Test Theory ◽  
First Episode ◽  
Cognitive Domains ◽  
Episode Psychosis ◽  
The Social

The aim of this study was to explore gender differences in social cognition in a sample of first-episode psychosis (FEP). An observational descriptive study was performed with 191 individuals with FEP. Emotion perception was assessed using the Faces Test, theory of mind was assessed using the Hinting Task, and attributional style was assessed using the Internal, Personal and Situational Attributions Questionnaire. No gender differences were found in any of the social cognitive domains. Our results suggest that men and women with FEP achieve similar performances in social cognition. Therefore, targeting specific needs in social cognition regarding gender may not be required in early interventions for psychosis.

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