Golde Sabrina, Heine Josephine, Pöttgen Jana, Mantwill Maron, Lau Stephanie, Wingenfeld Katja, Otte Christian, Penner Iris-Katharina, Engel Andreas K, Heesen Christoph, Stellmann Jan-Patrick, Dziobek Isabel, Finke Carsten, Gold Stefan M
Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Klinik für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie, Berlin, Germany.
Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Department of Education and Psychology, Freie Universität, Berlin, Germany.
Front Neurol. 2020 Jun 25;11:507. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2020.00507. eCollection 2020.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is characterized by impairments in basic cognitive functions such as information processing speed as well as in more complex, higher-order domains such as social cognition. However, as these deficits often co-occur, it has remained challenging to determine whether they have a specific pathological basis or are driven by shared biology. To identify neural signatures of social cognition deficits in MS, data were analyzed from = 29 patients with relapsing-remitting MS and = 29 healthy controls matched for age, sex, and education. We used neuropsychological assessments of information processing speed, attention, learning, working memory, and relevant aspects of social cognition (theory of mind, emotion recognition (ER), empathy) and employed neuroimaging of CNS networks using resting-state functional connectivity. MS patients showed significant deficits in verbal learning and memory, as well as implicit ER. Performance in these domains was uncorrelated. Functional connectivity analysis identified a distinct network characterized by significant associations between poorer ER and lower connectivity of the fusiform gyrus (FFG) with the right lateral occipital cortex, which also showed lower connectivity in patients compared to controls. Moreover, while ER was correlated with MS symptoms such as fatigue and motor/sensory functioning on a behavioral level, FFG connectivity signatures of social cognition deficits showed no overlap with these symptoms. Our analyses identify distinct functional connectivity signatures of social cognition deficits in MS, indicating that these alterations may occur independently from those in other neuropsychological functions.
多发性硬化症（MS）的特征在于基本认知功能受损，如信息处理速度，以及更复杂的高阶领域，如社会认知。然而，由于这些缺陷常常同时出现，确定它们是否有特定的病理基础或是否由共同的生物学因素驱动仍然具有挑战性。为了识别MS中社会认知缺陷的神经特征，我们分析了29例复发缓解型MS患者和29例年龄、性别和教育程度相匹配的健康对照的数据。我们使用了对信息处理速度、注意力、学习、工作记忆以及社会认知相关方面（心理理论、情绪识别（ER）、同理心）的神经心理学评估，并利用静息态功能连接对中枢神经系统网络进行了神经成像。MS患者在言语学习和记忆以及内隐ER方面表现出显著缺陷。这些领域的表现不相关。功能连接分析确定了一个独特的网络，其特征是较差的ER与梭状回（FFG）与右侧枕叶外侧皮质的较低连接性之间存在显著关联，与对照组相比，患者的该区域连接性也较低。此外，虽然ER在行为水平上与疲劳和运动/感觉功能等MS症状相关，但社会认知缺陷的FFG连接特征与这些症状没有重叠。我们的分析确定了MS中社会认知缺陷的独特功能连接特征，表明这些改变可能独立于其他神经心理功能的改变而发生。
