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Cognition, social cognition, and Self-assessment in schizophrenia: prediction of different elements of everyday functional outcomes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 January 2019

Juliet Silberstein
Affiliation:
University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL, USA
Philip D. Harvey*
Affiliation:
University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL, USA Research Service, Bruce W. Carter VA Medical Center, Miami VA Healthcare System. Miami, FL, USA
*
*Address correspondence to: Philip D. Harvey, PhD, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL, USA 33136. (Email: Philipdharvey1@cs.com)
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Abstract

A growing body of research has shown that two domains of cognition, neurocognition and social cognition, predict different domains of real-world outcomes in people with schizophrenia. Social cognition has been shown to predict social outcomes but not non-social outcomes (e.g. living independently), and neurocognition provides minimal prediction of social outcomes (e.g. interpersonal relationships). The differing predictive value of neurocognition and social cognition has led to an exploration of potential factors that interact with cognition to influence everyday outcomes. Functional skills, negative symptoms, and self-assessment have shown particularly promising relationships with cognitive ability. Several consensus studies have pinpointed valid performance-based assessments. High-contact informant ratings have additionally been shown to be highly accurate. The emerging understanding of divergent patterns of predicting outcomes and reliable assessments present an opportunity to improve treatment targets and real-world outcomes for individuals with schizophrenia. In particular, a recently defined component of metacognition has shown particular promise. Introspective accuracy (IA) addresses how well individuals evaluate their own abilities. Emerging research has found that IA of neurocognitive ability better predicts everyday functional deficits than scores on performance-based measures of neurocognitive skills and has found that IA of social cognition accounts unique variance in real world disability above social cognitive abilities. Intriguingly, IA of neurocognition appears to preferentially predict non-social outcomes while IA of social cognition predicts social outcomes.

Information

Type
Review
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2019 
Figure 0

Table 1 Clinical Assessment of Introspective Accuracy

Figure 1

Table 2 Strongest Predictors of Everyday Outcomes and Patterns of Prediction by Introspective Accuracy

Figure 2

Table 3 Clinical Scenarios regarding Introspective accuracy