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Introduction to Social Cognition

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Neuropsychiatric Symptoms of Inflammatory Demyelinating Diseases

Part of the book series: Neuropsychiatric Symptoms of Neurological Disease ((NSND))

Abstract

Social cognition (SC) encompasses the cognitive processes that underlie human relationships. Understanding others’ belief, thoughts, intentions, and emotions allows adapting its own behavior. It has been separated in various domains such as theory of mind (ToM), empathy, emotion processing, social knowledge, and social perception. There is overlapping among those terms. Neural basis concerns essentially the prefrontal cortex, amygdala, temporal poles, and temporoparietal junction. Many ways to assess SC, essentially ToM tasks and facial emotion recognition tasks, have been studied in neurological and psychiatric disorders. The relationship between neurocognition and SC remains discussed, but many arguments suggest a link, especially with executive functions and episodic memory for ToM and attention for facial emotion recognition. Neuropsychological and pharmacological management of SC, mostly studied in traumatic brain injury or in schizophrenia, is at the very beginning.

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Abbreviations

FFA:

Fusiform face area

fSTS:

Facial part of the superior temporal sulcus

MS:

Multiple sclerosis

SC:

Social cognition

ToM:

Theory of mind

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Pellegrin, Bordeaux, France

    Cécile Dulau M.D.

  2. Department of Neurology, Université de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, 33076, France

    Cécile Dulau M.D.

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  1. Cécile Dulau M.D.
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Correspondence to Cécile Dulau M.D. .

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  1. Department of Neurology, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Pellegrin, INSERM U 862, Université de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, Gironde, France

    Bruno Brochet

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Dulau, C. (2015). Introduction to Social Cognition. In: Brochet, B. (eds) Neuropsychiatric Symptoms of Inflammatory Demyelinating Diseases. Neuropsychiatric Symptoms of Neurological Disease. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18464-7_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18464-7_13

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