Social cognition-the basis of all communicative and otherwise interpersonal relationships-is embedded in specific contextual circumstances which shape intrinsic meanings. This domain is compromised in the autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), including Asperger's syndrome (AS) (DSM-V). However, the few available reports of social cognition skills in adults with AS have largely neglected the effects...

One accepted and straightforward approach to understand the genesis of social cognition – as of any particular human neoformation – is to look for specific developmental disorders in the hope to find clear double dissociations. In this regard, contrasting subjects with autistic spectrum disorders on the one hand and subjects with Williams syndrome on the other has gained large acceptance. Subje...

Stress resulting from living in large cities (and alienation in certain individuals) fuels the high incidence of psychiatric illnesses in modern metropolises. Some pathology as Schizophrenia and Asperger has deficits on social cognition mechanisms and its presentation may be influenced by social environmental impact. Even more, common mental disease such as depression and personality disorders ...

The social intelligence hypothesis suggests that living in large social networks was the primary selective pressure for the evolution of complex cognition in primates. This hypothesis is supported by comparative studies demonstrating a positive relationship between social group size and relative brain size across primates. However, the relationship between brain size and cognition remains equiv...

This article summarizes the discussion from a breakout group at the National Institute of Mental Health-Measurement and Treatment Research to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia New Approaches Conference on social cognition in schizophrenia. During this discussion, the reasons for the recent growth of research on social cognition in schizophrenia were examined. The discussion group established c...

PURPOSE The aims of this study were to reliably assess a range of social-cognitive functioning in frail seniors and to examine the association between measures of social cognition and nurses' ratings of residents' social functioning in a nursing home. DESIGN AND METHODS Forty nursing home residents with and without cognitive impairment completed 11 social cognition tasks on two occasions afte...

BACKGROUND The ability to integrate contextual information with social cues to generate social meaning is a key aspect of social cognition. It is widely accepted that patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorders have deficits in social cognition; however, previous studies on these disorders did not use tasks that replicate everyday situations. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS This study ev...