Abstract
Social cognition enables us to interact with other individuals and socio-cognitive functions are of importance throughout life. In people with focal and idiopathic epilepsies, previous research has shown that possible impairments in social cognition may cause interpersonal problems and have a negative impact on quality of life. For this reason, the assessment of socio-cognitive functions in individuals with epilepsy might help to identify individuals at risk and to define targets for intervention. Yet, previous tests were limited to static images and text-based material lacking ecological validity. Therefore, we have developed a novel test battery that aims at a comprehensive understanding of social cognition and uses highly ecologic tasks based on dynamic and multimodal stimulus material. Preliminary results that were obtained with the test battery are outlined in this overview.
Zusammenfassung
Soziale Kognition ermöglicht es uns, mit anderen Menschen zu interagieren, und ist während des gesamten Lebens von Bedeutung. Bei Menschen mit fokalen und idiopathischen Epilepsien haben bisherige Untersuchungen gezeigt, dass mögliche Beeinträchtigungen der sozialen Kognition zwischenmenschliche Schwierigkeiten verursachen und sich negativ auf die Lebensqualität auswirken können. Aus diesem Grund kann die Untersuchung von soziokognitiven Funktionen bei Personen mit Epilepsie dazu beitragen, Personen mit einem erhöhten Risiko für soziokognitive Defizite zu identifizieren und Interventionsziele abzuleiten. Bisherige Tests beschränkten sich jedoch auf die Verwendung von statischen Bildern und textbasiertem Material mit geringer ökologischer Validität. Deshalb haben die AutorInnen eine neue Testbatterie entwickelt, die ein umfassendes Verständnis der sozialen Kognition zum Ziel hat und dafür ökologische Aufgaben auf Basis von dynamischem und multimodalem Stimulusmaterial nutzt. Vorläufige Ergebnisse, die bereits mit der Testbatterie erhoben werden konnten, werden in diesem Übersichtsartikel präsentiert.
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J. Bauer, L.C. Kegel, B.K. Steiger, and H. Jokeit declare that they have no competing interests.
All procedures performed in studies involving human participants or on human tissue were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1975 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
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Bauer, J., Kegel, L.C., Steiger, B.K. et al. Assessment tools for social cognition in epilepsy. Z. Epileptol. 32, 183–186 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10309-019-0260-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10309-019-0260-z