title: Inferential reasoning: comparison of patients with schizophrenia and patients with traumatic brain injury.
abstract: We investigated the cognitive processes underlying inferential reasoning, comparing performance of patients suffering from schizophrenia with that of patients with brain injury in an attempt to understand the nature of the social impairments in schizophrenia. Inferential reasoning on mental and physical states and second-order false belief attribution were assessed in healthy controls, in patients with schizophrenia and in brain trauma patients with predominantly ventromedial prefrontal cortex or dosolateral prefrontal cortex lesions. Our finding that ventromedial prefrontal areas are involved in general inferential reasoning casts further light on the neural structures implicated in socio-cognitive impairments in schizophrenia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cognitive Science, University of Trento, Rovereto, Italy. geraci.ale@gmail.com
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Geraci
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cantagallo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000150:complications*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000150:complications*; D056345:Theory of Mind / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult