Social Cognition in Schizophrenia: an NIMH Workshop on Definitions, Assessment, and Research Opportunities

Overview

Journal Schizophr Bull

Publisher Oxford University Press

Specialty Psychiatry

Date 2008 Jan 11

PMID 18184635

Citations 280

Authors

Michael F Green

David L Penn

Richard Bentall

William T Carpenter

Wolfgang Gaebel

Ruben C Gur

Ann M Kring

Sohee Park

Steven M Silverstein

Robert Heinssen

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Social cognition has become a high priority area for the study of schizophrenia. However, despite developments in this area, progress remains limited by inconsistent terminology and differences in the way social cognition is measured. To address these obstacles, a consensus-building meeting on social cognition in schizophrenia was held at the National Institute of Mental Health in March 2006. Agreement was reached on several points, including definitions of terms, the significance of social cognition for schizophrenia research, and suggestions for future research directions. The importance of translational interdisciplinary research teams was emphasized. The current article presents a summary of these discussions.

Citing Articles

Weaker beta desynchronization indicates impaired emotion recognition in schizophrenia.

Csukly G, Molnar H, Marosi C, Fodor Z, Farkas K Schizophrenia (Heidelb). 2025; 11(1):39.

PMID: 40055340 PMC: 11889095. DOI: 10.1038/s41537-025-00591-4.

Clinical practice guidelines - An overview of cognitive remediation for various neuropsychiatric disorders.

Gautam S, Nebhinani N, Chaudhary J, Gaur M Indian J Psychiatry. 2025; 67(1):8-20.

PMID: 40046488 PMC: 11878461. DOI: 10.4103/indianjpsychiatry.indianjpsychiatry_1191_24.

Clinical practice guidelines on cognitive impairment in bipolar disorders - Assessment and management.

Kesavan M, Rathi L, Sinha N, Reddy P, Bhaskar M Indian J Psychiatry. 2025; 67(1):84-97.

PMID: 40046484 PMC: 11878457. DOI: 10.4103/indianjpsychiatry.indianjpsychiatry_696_24.

The impact of severe mental disorders on mother-infant interaction: a systematic review.

Vilaseca B, Roca-Lecumberri A, Garcia-Gibert C, Forte F, Torres-Gimenez A, Sole E Arch Womens Ment Health. 2025; .

PMID: 39912888 DOI: 10.1007/s00737-025-01561-6.

The effect of avatar identity on spontaneous perspective-taking in patients with schizophrenia.

Xie P, Huang C, Wang X, Sang H, Zhou A Schizophrenia (Heidelb). 2025; 11(1):9.

PMID: 39863649 PMC: 11762990. DOI: 10.1038/s41537-024-00551-4.

References

Luck S, Fuller R, Braun E, Robinson B, Summerfelt A, Gold J . The speed of visual attention in schizophrenia: electrophysiological and behavioral evidence. Schizophr Res. 2006; 85(1-3):174-95. DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2006.03.040. View

Nuechterlein K, Pashler H, Subotnik K . Translating basic attentional paradigms to schizophrenia research: reconsidering the nature of the deficits. Dev Psychopathol. 2006; 18(3):831-51. DOI: 10.1017/s095457940606041x. View

Randall F, Corcoran R, Day J, Bentall R . Attention, theory of mind, and causal attributions in people with persecutory delusions: A preliminary investigation. Cogn Neuropsychiatry. 2006; 8(4):287-94. DOI: 10.1080/135468000057. View

Phillips W, Singer W . In search of common foundations for cortical computation. Behav Brain Sci. 1999; 20(4):657-83; discussion 683-722. DOI: 10.1017/s0140525x9700160x. View

Saxe R, Powell L . It's the thought that counts: specific brain regions for one component of theory of mind. Psychol Sci. 2006; 17(8):692-9. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01768.x. View

Edwards J, Jackson H, Pattison P . Emotion recognition via facial expression and affective prosody in schizophrenia: a methodological review. Clin Psychol Rev. 2002; 22(6):789-832. DOI: 10.1016/s0272-7358(02)00130-7. View

Mitchell J, Banaji M, Neil Macrae C . General and specific contributions of the medial prefrontal cortex to knowledge about mental states. Neuroimage. 2005; 28(4):757-62. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2005.03.011. View

Heimberg C, Gur R, Erwin R, Shtasel D, Gur R . Facial emotion discrimination: III. Behavioral findings in schizophrenia. Psychiatry Res. 1992; 42(3):253-65. DOI: 10.1016/0165-1781(92)90117-l. View

Couture S, Penn D, Roberts D . The functional significance of social cognition in schizophrenia: a review. Schizophr Bull. 2006; 32 Suppl 1:S44-63. PMC: 2632537. DOI: 10.1093/schbul/sbl029. View

10.

MORRISON R, Bellack A, Mueser K . Deficits in facial-affect recognition and schizophrenia. Schizophr Bull. 1988; 14(1):67-83. DOI: 10.1093/schbul/14.1.67. View

11.

Gur R, Kohler C, Ragland J, Siegel S, Lesko K, Bilker W . Flat affect in schizophrenia: relation to emotion processing and neurocognitive measures. Schizophr Bull. 2006; 32(2):279-87. PMC: 2632232. DOI: 10.1093/schbul/sbj041. View

12.

Brune M . "Theory of mind" in schizophrenia: a review of the literature. Schizophr Bull. 2005; 31(1):21-42. DOI: 10.1093/schbul/sbi002. View

13.

Leitman D, Ziwich R, Pasternak R, Javitt D . Theory of Mind (ToM) and counterfactuality deficits in schizophrenia: misperception or misinterpretation?. Psychol Med. 2006; 36(8):1075-83. DOI: 10.1017/S0033291706007653. View

14.

Allen D, Strauss G, Donohue B, van Kammen D . Factor analytic support for social cognition as a separable cognitive domain in schizophrenia. Schizophr Res. 2007; 93(1-3):325-33. DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2007.02.008. View

15.

Kee K, Horan W, Mintz J, Green M . Do the siblings of schizophrenia patients demonstrate affect perception deficits?. Schizophr Res. 2004; 67(1):87-94. DOI: 10.1016/s0920-9964(03)00217-2. View

16.

Toomey R, Seidman L, Lyons M, Faraone S, Tsuang M . Poor perception of nonverbal social-emotional cues in relatives of schizophrenic patients. Schizophr Res. 1999; 40(2):121-30. DOI: 10.1016/s0920-9964(99)00036-5. View

17.

Adolphs R . How do we know the minds of others? Domain-specificity, simulation, and enactive social cognition. Brain Res. 2006; 1079(1):25-35. DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2005.12.127. View

18.

Nuechterlein K, Barch D, Gold J, Goldberg T, Green M, Heaton R . Identification of separable cognitive factors in schizophrenia. Schizophr Res. 2004; 72(1):29-39. DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2004.09.007. View

19.

Hogarty G, Flesher S, Ulrich R, Carter M, Greenwald D, Pogue-Geile M . Cognitive enhancement therapy for schizophrenia: effects of a 2-year randomized trial on cognition and behavior. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2004; 61(9):866-76. DOI: 10.1001/archpsyc.61.9.866. View

20.

Lee D, Randall F, Beattie G, Bentall R . Delusional discourse: an investigation comparing the spontaneous causal attributions of paranoid and non-paranoid individuals. Psychol Psychother. 2004; 77(Pt 4):525-40. DOI: 10.1348/1476083042555361. View