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Social Cognition in Temporal and Frontal Lobe Epilepsy: Systematic Review, Meta-analysis, and Clinical Recommendations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 March 2022

Maryam Ziaei*
Affiliation:
Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway Centre for Advanced Imaging, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
Charlotte Arnold
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
Kate Thompson
Affiliation:
Psychology Department, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, Brisbane, Australia
David C. Reutens
Affiliation:
Centre for Advanced Imaging, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
*
*Correspondence and reprint requests to: Maryam Ziaei; Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway. Tel: +47 4850 4709. E-mails: maryam.ziaei@ntnu.no, maryamziae@gmail.com

Abstract

Objective:

Despite the importance of social cognitive functions to mental health and social adjustment, examination of these functions is absent in routine assessment of epilepsy patients. Thus, this review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the literature on four major aspects of social cognition among temporal and frontal lobe epilepsy, which is a critical step toward designing new interventions.

Method:

Papers from 1990 to 2021 were reviewed and examined for inclusion in this study. After the deduplication process, a systematic review and meta-analysis of 44 and 40 articles, respectively, involving 113 people with frontal lobe epilepsy and 1482 people with temporal lobe epilepsy were conducted.

Results:

Our results indicated that while patients with frontal or temporal lobe epilepsy have difficulties in all aspects of social cognition relative to nonclinical controls, the effect sizes were larger for theory of mind (g = .95), than for emotion recognition (g = .69) among temporal lobe epilepsy group. The frontal lobe epilepsy group exhibited significantly greater impairment in emotion recognition compared to temporal lobe. Additionally, people with right temporal lobe epilepsy (g =  1.10) performed more poorly than those with a left-sided (g = .90) seizure focus, specifically in the theory of mind domain.

Conclusions:

These data point to a potentially important difference in the severity of deficits within the emotion recognition and theory of mind abilities depending on the laterlization of seizure side. We also suggest a guide for the assessment of impairments in social cognition that can be integrated into multidisciplinary clinical evaluation for people with epilepsy

Information

Type
Critical Review
Copyright
Copyright © INS. Published by Cambridge University Press, 2022

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