title: Social cognition in bipolar disorder versus schizophrenia: comparability in mental state decoding deficits.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Neuropsychological studies comparing patients with bipolar disorder (BD) to patients with schizophrenia (SZ) suggest milder cognitive deficits in BD patients and across a smaller range of functions. The present study investigated whether this pattern is also true for social cognition - a range of socially relevant abilities, including emotion perception and recognition, theory of mind, and social attributions - by comparing performance on measures of social cognition in patients with BD, SZ, and healthy participants.
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred and two patients with BD, 208 patients with SZ, and 132 healthy participants were assessed using a battery of tasks measuring basic neuropsychological and social cognition.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We observed significant differences between patients with BD and healthy participants in a test of mental state decoding ('eyes task') that was at a level comparable to deficits seen in patients with SZ. By comparison, BD patients showed more subtle deficits in mental state reasoning ('hinting task') than those shown by patients with SZ.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Mental state decoding difficulties are significant in BD. An important direction for further research will be to establish to what extent these deficits affect social and occupational functioning as a potential target for therapeutic intervention.
authors.affiliation: Neuropsychiatric Genetics Research Group, Department of Psychiatry and Institute of Molecular Medicine, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland. donoghug@tcd.ie
authors.forename: Gary
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Donohoe
authors.forename: Aoife
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Duignan
authors.forename: April
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hargreaves
authors.forename: Derek W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Morris
authors.forename: Emma
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rose
authors.forename: Deirdre
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Robertson
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cummings
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gill
authors.forename: Aiden
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Corvin
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008609:Mental Status Schedule; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000150:complications*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D012938:Social Perception; D055815:Young Adult