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Comparative Analysis of Social Cognitive and Neurocognitive Performance Across Autism and Schizophrenia Spectrum

Ayesha G Rashidi^1,2, Lindsay D Oliver^1,3, Iska Moxon-Emre¹

¹Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, ON M6J 1H4, Canada.

Schizophrenia Bulletin

|March 4, 2025

Abstract

Background And Hypothesis:

Social cognitive and neurocognitive performance is impacted in autism and schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSDs). Here, we compared social cognitive and neurocognitive performance across a large transdiagnostic sample of participants with autism, SSDs, and typically developing controls (TDCs).

Study Design:

Participants (total N = 584; autism N = 100, SSDs N = 275, TDCs N = 209; aged 16-55 years; 61% male assigned at birth) completed lower-level (eg, emotion processing) and higher-level (eg, theory of mind) social cognitive tasks, the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery, and a measure of social functioning. Nonparametric groupwise comparisons were undertaken, adjusting for age and sex, and within-group correlations were used to examine associations between social cognition, neurocognition, and social functioning.

Study Results:

Autistic and SSD groups performed worse than TDCs on lower- and higher-level social cognitive tasks, with few autism-SSD differences found. Autism and SSDs had lower neurocognitive scores than TDCs; SSDs demonstrated lower processing speed, working memory, verbal learning, and visual learning versus autism. Positive associations between social cognitive tasks and neurocognition were observed across groups, and self-reported measures of empathy were consistently correlated with social functioning.

Conclusions:

This study represents the largest transdiagnostic comparison of both social cognition and neurocognition in an autism/SSD sample reported to date. Autistic participants and those with SSDs showed similar performance on lower- and higher-level social cognitive tasks relative to controls, while neurocognition was less impacted in autism versus SSDs. These findings underscore the importance of transdiagnostic research into the mechanisms underlying social cognitive deficits and highlight the potential for developing transdiagnostic interventions.

Keywords:

autism spectrum disorder neurocognition schizophrenia spectrum disorder social cognition social functioning

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