Psychiatry Service, Clinical University Hospital of Valladolid, Valladolid, Spain.
Psychiatry Department, School of Medicine, University of Valladolid, Spain.
Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. 2019 Aug 30;94:109672. doi: 10.1016/j.pnpbp.2019.109672. Epub 2019 Jun 19.
Social cognition deficits are found in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, but its neural underpinnings are poorly understood. Given the complexity of psychological functions underlying this kind of cognition, we hypothesized that alterations in global structural connectivity could contribute to those deficits. To test this hypothesis, we studied a group of schizophrenia and bipolar patients with connectomics based on diffusion magnetic resonance imaging and assessments of general and social cognition. The latter was assessed using the Mayer, Salovey and Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) for emotional intelligence and the Spanish Group for Schizophrenia Treatment Optimization (Grupo Español para la OPtimización del Tratamiento de la Esquizofrenia, GEOPTE) test for behavioral aspects of social cognition. Graph theory applied to fractional anisotropy for the connections among cortical regions was used to obtain the small-world (SW) index of the structural connectivity network. In addition, we assessed the possibility of predicting the response of social cognition deficits to Meta-cognitive Training based on their possible underpinnings in a subgroup of patients. Patients showed lower scores in emotional intelligence and behavioral social cognition. MSCEIT scores were associated with SW index and working memory, and GEOPTE scores were related to verbal memory. Improvement in social cognition after Meta-cognitive Training was associated with lower scores of the social cognition in the baseline, according to the GEOPTE scale. Our findings support structural connectivity as one of the factors underlying emotional intelligence in schizophrenia, and the use of Meta-cognitive Training to improve social cognition in patients with larger deficits.
社会认知缺陷存在于精神分裂症和双相情感障碍中，但它的神经基础却知之甚少。鉴于这种认知所涉及的心理功能的复杂性，我们假设整体结构连接的改变可能导致这些缺陷。为了验证这一假设，我们研究了一组基于弥散磁共振成像的精神分裂症和双相情感障碍患者的连接组学，以及一般和社会认知的评估。后者使用 Mayer、Salovey 和 Caruso 情绪智力测试（MSCEIT）评估情绪智力，使用西班牙精神分裂症治疗优化小组（Grupo Español para la OPtimización del Tratamiento de la Esquizofrenia，GEOPTE）测试评估社会认知的行为方面。应用于皮质区域之间连接的分数各向异性的图论用于获得结构连接网络的小世界（SW）指数。此外，我们还评估了在患者的亚组中，基于其潜在机制，预测社会认知缺陷对元认知训练反应的可能性。患者在情绪智力和行为社会认知方面的得分较低。MSCEIT 分数与 SW 指数和工作记忆相关，GEOPTE 分数与言语记忆相关。根据 GEOPTE 量表，元认知训练后社会认知的改善与基线时社会认知得分较低相关。我们的研究结果支持结构连接是精神分裂症中情绪智力的一个潜在因素之一，并支持使用元认知训练来改善社会认知缺陷较大的患者的社会认知。
