Hemifacial Spasm and Blepharospasm: Divergent Social Cognition Performance Despite Similar Neurocognitive Profiles

Hemifacial spasm (HFS) and blepharospasm (BSP) are two neurological disorders characterized by involuntary contractions in the eye and face area. These two diagnostic groups' neurocognitive and social cognition performances are not adequately understood regarding behavioral neurology.

This study compared HFS and BSP groups with healthy controls (HCs) regarding neurocognition and social cognition performances.

Twenty people from each group with equal distribution in terms of age, education level, and gender were included in the study. All participants were administered neuropsychological tests measuring attention, memory, working memory, visual-spatial skills, and theory of mind skills.

The analyses determined that the neurocognition scores of the HFS and BSP groups were lower than those of the HCs, but there was no significant difference between them. A significant difference was found between the HFS and BSP groups regarding social cognition scores.

Consistent with the literature, both clinical groups showed differences in the control group's neurocognitive and social-cognitive test performances. Unexpectedly, it was found that individuals with HFS and BSP, who progress through different pathophysiological mechanisms, exhibited similar neurocognitive scores, but their social cognition scores diverged. This finding suggests that the two disorders exhibit overlapping impairments in some neural circuits while differing in others. Future studies should focus on social cognition skills to better understand the etiology of these two disorders and distinguish the clinically confounding conditions.