title: Improving social cognition in schizophrenia: a pilot intervention combining computerized social cognition training with cognitive remediation.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Social cognition is significantly impaired in schizophrenia and contributes to poor community functioning. This study examined whether cognitive remediation (CR; COGPACK), shown to improve neurocognition, improves an integral component of social cognition, emotion perception, compared with CR combined with a computerized Emotion Perception intervention (Mind Reading: Interactive Guide to Emotions [MRIGE]).
  
  
  METHODS
  59 stable schizophrenia or schizoaffective predominantly inpatients were randomized to either CR (N=27) alone or CR+MRIGE (N=32) for 12 weeks. Assessments included the Facial Emotion Identification Task (FEIT), Facial Emotion Discrimination Task (FEDT), MCCB-MATRICS, Personal and Social Performance Scale, and the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was a significant group-by-time effect on FEIT (F=11.509, P=.004); CR+MRIGE demonstrated signiﬁcantly greater improvement than CR alone (CR+MRIGE, Z=1.89, P=.05; CR alone Z=0.57, P=.13). There was significant group-by-time effect on FEDT (F=5.663, P=.022); CR+MRIGE demonstrated signiﬁcantly greater improvement than CR alone (CR+MRIGE, Z=1.90, P=.05; CR alone Z=0.67, P=.21). There was also a significant group by time effect for social cognition, measured by the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (F=5.473, P=.050): CR+MRIGE demonstrated significantly greater improvement than CR alone (CR+MRIGE, Z=1.98, P=.02; CR alone, Z=1.00, P=.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Combined CR with emotion perception remediation produced greater improvements in emotion recognition, emotion discrimination, social functioning, and neurocognition compared with CR alone in chronic schizophrenia.
authors.affiliation: Psychopharmacology Research Department, Manhattan Psychiatric Center, 600 E 125 St, Ward's Island, NY 10035, USA. Lindenmayer@nki.rfmh.org
authors.forename: Jean-Pierre
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Lindenmayer
authors.forename: Susan R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: McGurk
authors.forename: Anzalee
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.forename: Saurabh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kaushik
authors.forename: Amod
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Thanju
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hoffman
authors.forename: Gladys
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Valdez
authors.forename: Deborah
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wance
authors.forename: Edith
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Herrmann
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D004644:Emotions; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D012919:Social Behavior; D012938:Social Perception; D056345:Theory of Mind; D013813:Therapy, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*