*To whom correspondence should be addressed; VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare Center (MIRECC 210 A), Building 210, Room 116, 11301 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90073, US; tel: 310-478-3711, ext. 49229, fax: 310-268-4056, e-mail:
Schizophr Bull. 2013 Nov;39(6):1201-10. doi: 10.1093/schbul/sbt127. Epub 2013 Sep 26.
The psychometric properties of 4 paradigms adapted from the social neuroscience literature were evaluated to determine their suitability for use in clinical trials of schizophrenia. This 2-site study (University of California, Los Angeles and University of North Carolina) included 173 clinically stable schizophrenia outpatients and 88 healthy controls. The social cognition battery was administered twice to the schizophrenia group (baseline, 4-week retest) and once to the control group. The 4 paradigms included 2 that assess perception of nonverbal social and action cues (basic biological motion and emotion in biological motion) and 2 that involve higher level inferences about self and others' mental states (self-referential memory and empathic accuracy). Each paradigm was evaluated on (1) patient vs healthy control group differences, (2) test-retest reliability, (3) utility as a repeated measure, and (4) tolerability. Of the 4 paradigms, empathic accuracy demonstrated the strongest characteristics, including large between-group differences, adequate test-retest reliability (.72), negligible practice effects, and good tolerability ratings. The other paradigms showed weaker psychometric characteristics in their current forms. These findings highlight challenges in adapting social neuroscience paradigms for use in clinical trials.
评估了从社会神经科学文献中改编的 4 种范式的心理计量学特性，以确定它们在精神分裂症临床试验中的适用性。这项 2 个地点的研究（加利福尼亚大学洛杉矶分校和北卡罗来纳大学）包括 173 名临床稳定的精神分裂症门诊患者和 88 名健康对照者。社会认知电池对精神分裂症组进行了两次测试（基线，4 周复测），对对照组进行了一次测试。这 4 种范式包括 2 种评估非言语社会和动作线索感知的范式（基本生物运动和生物运动中的情绪），以及 2 种涉及关于自我和他人心理状态的更高层次推断的范式（自我参照记忆和同理心准确性）。每个范式都评估了（1）患者与健康对照组之间的差异，（2）测试-重测可靠性，（3）作为重复测量的效用，以及（4）耐受性。在这 4 种范式中，同理心准确性表现出最强的特征，包括组间差异大、测试-重测可靠性足够（.72）、可忽略的练习效应和良好的耐受性评分。其他范式在其当前形式下表现出较弱的心理计量学特征。这些发现强调了为在临床试验中使用而改编社会神经科学范式所面临的挑战。
