Theory of mind and verbal working memory deficits in parents of autistic children.

The objective of this study was to investigate the potential values of executive function and social cognition deficits as endophenotypes of autism. While theory of mind (ToM) is generally accepted as a unitary concept, some have suggested that ToM may be separated into two components (mental state reasoning and decoding). In this study, both aspects of ToM and verbal working memory abilities were investigated with relatively demanding tasks. The authors used a neurocognitive battery to compare the executive function and social cognition skills of 76 parents of autistic probands with 41 parents of healthy children. Both groups were matched for IQ, age and gender. Index parents had verbal working memory deficits. They had also low performance on a mental state reasoning task. Index parents had difficulties in reasoning about others' emotions. In contrast to findings in the control group, low performance of mental state reasoning ability was not associated with working memory deficit in index parents. Social cognition and working memory impairments may represent potential endophenotypes, related to an underlying vulnerability for autistic spectrum disorders.

The effect of depression on academic achievement in children with epilepsy.

In this cross-sectional study our aim was to evaluate the effect of depression on academic achievement in children with epilepsy and low school performance. Fifty-one children with epilepsy and low school performance were evaluated with the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) to measure depressive symptoms. School performance was evaluated with Achenbach's Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and the Teacher Report Form (TRF). Children diagnosed with depressive spectrum disorders received medical therapy. All tests were administered in the first interview and repeated at the end of 6 months of therapy. Forty-three children completed the study. The patients were evaluated with DSM-IV diagnostic criteria. Accordingly, 9 (20.9%) children had Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and 4 (9.3%) had Depressive Disorder, Not Otherwise Specified (DD-NOS). All children with MDD and DD-NOS received antidepressant medication, but only seven of them completed treatment. Posttreatment CDI scores were significantly lower, and TRF scores also improved. Pediatric neurologists should be aware of the possibility of depressive disorders in children with epilepsy, especially in those with low school performance.

Empathic abilities in people with schizophrenia.

Although the existence of empathy deficits in schizophrenia is generally accepted, very few studies have directly investigated the issue. The nature of empathy deficits in healthy subjects and psychiatric patients is an understudied subject. The performances of the 30 outpatients with schizophrenia on a psychometric measure, the Empathy Quotient (EQ), were compared with those of 30 control subjects matched for age, duration of education and gender. The relatives or spouses of the patients also filled out the EQ. A neuropsychological battery, including emotion recognition, emotional reasoning and theory of mind tasks, was also administered. Schizophrenia patients had severe empathy dysfunction based on their relative EQ ratings. There was a serious discrepancy between the self and relative/spouse assessments of the empathic skills of schizophrenia patients. Consistent with the previous findings schizophrenia patients were impaired in nearly all cognitive tasks. The empathy deficits of schizophrenia patients were associated with their impairments in other social cognitive tasks. Studies focusing on dysfunctional brain networks underlying empathy deficits and studies using more experimental measures of empathy should be helpful to unravel the true nature of the empathic failure in patients with schizophrenia.

Deficits of social-cognitive and social-perceptual aspects of theory of mind in remitted patients with schizophrenia: effect of residual symptoms.

Although ToM deficit in schizophrenia is widely accepted, findings regarding remitted schizophrenia patients are contradictory. Because residual symptoms are present out of psychotic exacerbation periods, the differences between definition of remission may be important to interpret these findings. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between performance of 2 different aspects of theory of mind (ToM) and residual clinical symptoms and other cognitive deficits in schizophrenia. Ninety-one stable outpatients with schizophrenia and 55 healthy controls were assessed with a neuropsychological battery. Both social-cognitive and social-perceptual aspects of ToM were impaired in schizophrenia, even in patients who were totally free of residual symptoms. Still, the results showed that ToM deficit is related to residual symptoms of schizophrenia. Social-cognitive ToM abilities seem to be related to both positive and negative symptoms. The ToM deficits of fully remitted patients without persistent negative symptoms may be secondary to a more general cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia.