Social Cognition Dysfunctions in Neurodegenerative Diseases: Neuroanatomical Correlates and Clinical Implications

Abstract

Social cognitive function, involved in the perception, processing, and interpretation of social information, has been shown to be crucial for successful communication and interpersonal relationships, thereby significantly impacting mental health, well-being, and quality of life. In this regard, assessment of social cognition, mainly focusing on four key domains, such as theory of mind (ToM), emotional empathy, and social perception and behavior, has been increasingly evaluated in clinical settings, given the potential implications of impairments of these skills for therapeutic decision-making. With regard to neurodegenerative diseases (NDs), most disorders, characterized by variable disease phenotypes and progression, although similar for the unfavorable prognosis, are associated to impairments of social cognitive function, with consequent negative effects on patients' management. Specifically, in some NDs these deficits may represent core diagnostic criteria, such as for behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD), or may emerge during the disease course as critical aspects, such as for Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases. On this background, we aimed to revise the most updated evidence on the neurobiological hypotheses derived from network-based approaches, clinical manifestations, and assessment tools of social cognitive dysfunctions in NDs, also prospecting potential benefits on patients' well-being, quality of life, and outcome derived from potential therapeutic perspectives of these deficits.

Abnormal Cortical Thickness Is Associated With Deficits in Social Cognition in Patients With Myotonic Dystrophy Type 1

“…Deficits in any aspect of SC may result in an inappropriate behavior with different degrees of severity, depending on the extension of the underlying brain damage. Social cognition deficits have been consistently reported not only in patients with frontal brain lesions but also in patients with neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism or neurodegeneration such as the behavioral variant of the frontotemporal dementia (18). In DM1 patients, we recently identified functional brain abnormalities within networks implicated in ToM ability (16).…”

Social Cognition through the Lens of Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience

“…Increasing evidence highlights a variety of social cognitive impairments in different neurological (e.g., neurodegenerative diseases, traumatic brain injuries, and brain tumors) and psychiatric (e.g., mood disorders, autism, and schizophrenia) conditions [ 197 – 200 ]. These alterations are mainly associated with the functional consequences of neuropathological processes or brain lesions affecting regions and networks underlying social cognition skills.…”

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“…Social cognitionis a concept introduced by neurosciences, to refer to a neuropsychological process that has been studied over the last few years in various clinical conditions such as: schizophrenia, autism, attention deficit hyperactivity and antisocial personality disorder. It is defined as a subject's ability to perform emotional processing, interpreting other people's intentions and beliefs in the midst of social situations (Christidi, Migliaccio, Santamaría-García, Santangelo, & Trojsi, 2018). Social cognition neuroanatomy is explained by multiple neural connections of cortical and subcortical structures, with predominance of the specifically prefrontal frontal lobe.…”