Social cognitive factors in brain injury-associated personality change.
Often social difficulties are the most enduring difficulties after a head injury. The social deficits most frequently reported by relatives 6-12 months post-injury include egocentric styles of social interaction characterized by family members as a change in the head-injured patient's personality style. The described characteristics of head-injured patients in terms of social perspective-taking abilities are similar to those of children reported in the cognitive developmental literature. To demonstrate the nature of the social deficits in head-injured participants, social perspective-taking paradigms in the development literature were used to construct a task to be administered to both head-injured and non-head-injured adults. Results of the comparison between the two groups suggest deficits in social perspective-taking abilities in head-injured adults similar to the level demonstrated by pre-adolescent children.
Santoro
J
J
New Medico Rehabilitation and Skilled Nursing Center, Cortland, NY 13045.
Spiers
M
M
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001925:Brain Damage, Chronic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000293:injuries; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D019965:Neurocognitive Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012920:Social Behavior Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation; D012938:Social Perception; D012963:Sociometric Techniques; D013850:Thinking / Q000502:physiology