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Updated: Mar 12, 2026
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The Multiple Sclerosis Performance Test MSPT: An iPad-Based Disability Assessment Tool
Published on: June 30, 2014
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Social Cognition in Multiple Sclerosis: A Multidomain Investigation
Dalya Eda Akbalık1, Murat Kürtüncü2, Tuncay Gündüz2
1Department of General Psychology and Padova Neuroscience Center, University of Padova, Padova, Italy, unipd.it.
Behavioural Neurology
|March 11, 2026
Summary
Relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) patients show significant social cognition deficits, particularly in recognizing negative emotions. These impairments are domain-specific and linked to disability and disease duration.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychology
Background:
- Cognitive functioning in multiple sclerosis is widely studied.
- Social cognition deficits in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) are less explored.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate social cognition, including theory of mind (ToM) and emotion recognition, in RRMS patients.
- To determine if social cognition deficits are domain-specific in RRMS.
Main Methods:
- Recruited 30 Turkish RRMS patients and 30 healthy controls (HCs).
- Assessed affective and cognitive ToM, and emotion recognition (naming/discriminating facial expressions).
- Used novel, broad test combinations requiring verbal responses and accuracy scoring.
Main Results:
- RRMS patients had significantly lower accuracy in all social cognition tasks compared to HCs.
- Emotion discrimination performance negatively correlated with disability and disease duration.
- RRMS patients showed deficits in recognizing negative emotions, but not positive emotions.
- Social cognition deficits were domain-specific, even after controlling for overall cognitive functioning.
Conclusions:
- Social cognition impairments in RRMS are domain-specific.
- Deficits in emotion recognition, especially negative emotions, are prominent in RRMS.
- Findings are consistent across different cultural contexts.
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