Perception of facial trustworthiness in mild cognitive impairment

BackgroundImpaired social behavior in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) represents an important burden for caregivers and its presence is associated with increased risk of conversion to dementia. Social cognition provides a relevant framework for investigating functional and social outcomes of these patients but is still based on a very narrow number of domains and lacks robust connection to clinical outcomes.ObjectiveThe present study aims to investigate social trait inference, our ability to form judgements about others, in MCI patients and how it relates to functional outcomes.MethodsWe used Signal Detection Theory's measures of sensitivity and bias in perceiving facial trustworthiness.ResultsWe found that increasing education level decreased the difference in sensitivity between MCI patients and controls. Importantly, we found that higher impairment in activities of daily living was associated with perceiving others as less trustworthy. In controls, lower cognitive integrity was also related to perceiving others as less trustworthy.ConclusionsOur results have important implications for the understanding of changes in social perception in MCI. Education may have a protective role in delaying the onset of impairment in social trait inference. Also, we show evidence that the age-associated positivity bias depends on higher cognitive integrity. Our results have implications for patient care and provide additional characterization of social perception in these patients.