Social cognition deficits are observed both in patients with schizophrenia (SCZ) and in patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE). This may be due to dysfunction of the amygdala network, which is a common feature of both diseases. In this study, SCZ (n = 48) or MTLE (n = 31) and healthy controls (HC, n = 47) completed assessments of mentalising (Reading Mind in the Eyes Test, RMET) and basic cognitive processing, e.g., working memory, executive functions and psychomotor speed (Trail-Making Test B and Digit Symbol). SCZ were also assessed with the Positive And Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). We found that the RMET scores of the two clinical groups were similar (p > 0.05) and lower than in the HCs (SCZ: p < 0.05; MTLE: p < 0.001). In the next step, SCZ were split into two groups with respect to the level of symptoms. Analysis of the RMET scores revealed no differences between the HC (M = 25.7 ± 4.1) and POS-LO (M = 25.3 ± 4.8); both groups outperformed the POS-HI group (M = 21.3 ± 5.2) and the MTLE group (M = 20.8 ± 4.6). No differences were found for the median-split with regard to negative symptoms. In SCZ, the mind-reading deficit appears to be associated with the level of positive symptoms. Both POS-HI and MTLE patients present significant mentalising deficits compared to healthy controls.
Social predictive coding is now a well-established phenomenon in healthy individuals. It has been demonstrated that the communicative gestures of one agent may be effectively used to predict the actions of other agents. Individuals with schizophrenia often present social-cognitive deficits. The aim of this paper is to examine interpersonal predictive coding in patients with schizophrenia. Forty-six participants with schizophrenia and 40 healthy controls (HC) completed a simultaneous masking detection task (Interpersonal Detection Task; IDT), during which they observed point-light displays of two agents (A and B). During the communicative condition, agent A performed a communicative gesture, to which agent B responded accordingly. During the individual condition, agent A performed a noncommunicative action instead of the communicative gesture. Upon completion of the IDT, participants were asked to explicitly classify the actions of two agents based on nonmasked videos of point-light dyads. In line with previous findings, people with schizophrenia presented a reduced masking threshold for biological motion displays, and were less able to correctly recognize the actions of two agents during the explicit recognition task. However, observing the communicative gesture of agent A enhanced the visual discrimination of agent B in participants from all groups. This effect was observed despite the fact that SCZ presented overall diminished sensitivity to biological motion during IDT. Interpersonal predictive coding, which at least partially relies upon implicit processes, may be less impaired in people with schizophrenia than explicit social-cognitive processes (e.g., theory of mind). (PsycINFO Database Record
Background: There are no studies comparing red blood cell parameters between patients with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and unipolar depression. The aim of this study was to compare differences in erythrocyte parameters (red blood cell count (RBC), hematocrit (HCT), hemoglobin (HGB), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH), mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), and red blood cell distribution width (RDW)) in patients with schizophrenia (SHZ), unipolar depression (UD) and bipolar disorder (BIP): bipolar depression (BD) and mania (BM). Subjects and methods: This was a retrospective, cross-sectional, naturalistic study of 2381 patients (SHZ n=1244; UD n=794; BIP n=343, BD n=259, BM n=84). Results: There was significant difference for all red cell parameters between study groups (p<0.001). Age and sex may affect various erythrocyte parameters. Conclusion: There are differences in erythrocyte parameters between schizophrenia, unipolar depression and bipolar disorder. Compared with schizophrenia, significantly higher percentage of patients with affective disorders has anemia or abnormal erythrocyte parameters. Positive correlations between age and MCV and RDW and negative correlation between other parameters and age were found in all study groups.
Interpersonal predictive coding (IPC) enables one to use the information conveyed by the communicative action of one agent to predict the response of another agent. IPC relies both on explicit reflective processes (processing of communicative intentions) and automatic reflexive processes (motor resonance). Predictive coding deficits may underlie positive symptoms in people with schizophrenia (SCZ), yet IPC has not been analyzed in SCZ. Thirty-nine SCZ and 22 controls (HC) completed a simultaneous masking detection task, during which they observed either communicative (Com) or individual (Ind) actions of agent A and had to report the presence of the agent B, who was shown in half of the trials. In line with previous findings, detection criterion was lowered after Com as compared to Ind, suggesting a higher tendency to report the presence of a second agent after observing agent A's communicative gestures . Surprisingly, this effect was found to a similar extent in both groups. Communicative criterion was linked to mentalizing abilities, but not to symptoms in SCZ. Finding that SCZ show similar IPC as HC adds to the previous evidence that reflexive processes may be relatively intact in patients. Furthermore, the level of reflective processes may be crucial for patients' social functioning.
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