title: An Investigation of Emotion Recognition and Theory of Mind in People with Chronic Heart Failure.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Cognitive deficits are common in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF), but no study has investigated whether these deficits extend to social cognition. The present study provided the first empirical assessment of emotion recognition and theory of mind (ToM) in patients with CHF. In addition, it assessed whether each of these social cognitive constructs was associated with more general cognitive impairment.
  
  
  METHODS
  A group comparison design was used, with 31 CHF patients compared to 38 demographically matched controls. The Ekman Faces test was used to assess emotion recognition, and the Mind in the Eyes test to measure ToM. Measures assessing global cognition, executive functions, and verbal memory were also administered.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were no differences between groups on emotion recognition or ToM. The CHF group's performance was poorer on some executive measures, but memory was relatively preserved. In the CHF group, both emotion recognition performance and ToM ability correlated moderately with global cognition (r = .38, p = .034; r = .49, p = .005, respectively), but not with executive function or verbal memory.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  CHF patients with lower cognitive ability were more likely to have difficulty recognizing emotions and inferring the mental states of others. Clinical implications of these findings are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Cognition and Emotion Research Centre, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: Tina
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Habota
authors.affiliation: Cognition and Emotion Research Centre, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: Skye N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: McLennan
authors.affiliation: Centre for the Heart and Mind, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cameron
authors.affiliation: Centre for the Heart and Mind, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: Chantal F
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Ski
authors.affiliation: Centre for the Heart and Mind, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: David R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.affiliation: Cognition and Emotion Research Centre, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: Peter G
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Rendell
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003071:Cognition; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D056345:Theory of Mind