Biomedical subjects

Mark J Sergi

Publications and source records attributed to Mark J Sergi.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Social cognition in schizophrenia: relationships with neurocognition and negative symptoms.

Despite the growing importance of social cognition in schizophrenia, fundamental issues concerning the nature of social cognition in schizophrenia remain unanswered. One issue concerns the strength of the relationships between social cognition and key features of the disorder such as neurocognitive deficits and negative symptoms. The current study employed structural equation modeling to examine three key questions regarding the nature of social cognition in schizophrenia: 1) Are social cognition and neurocognition in schizophrenia better modeled as one or two separate constructs? 2) Are social cognition and negative symptoms in schizophrenia better modeled as one or two separate constructs?, and 3) When social cognition, neurocognition, and negative symptoms are included in a single model, is social cognition more closely related to neurocognition or to negative symptoms? In this cross sectional study, one hundred outpatients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder were administered measures of social cognition, neurocognition, and negative symptoms. A two-factor model that represented social cognition and neurocognition as separate constructs fit the data significantly better than a one-factor model, suggesting that social cognition and neurocognition are distinct, yet highly related, constructs. Likewise, a two-factor model that represented social cognition and negative symptoms as separate constructs fit the data significantly better than a one-factor model, suggesting that social cognition and negative symptoms are distinct constructs. A three-factor model revealed that the relationship between social cognition and neurocognition was stronger than the relationship between social cognition and negative symptoms. The current findings start to provide insights into the structure of social cognition, neurocognition, and negative symptoms in schizophrenia.

Adult↗

PubMed2006

Theory of mind, neurocognition, and functional status in schizotypy.

The present study is the first to concurrently examine social cognition, neurocognition, and social functioning in psychometric schizotypes. Screening of 2108 undergraduates with the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire-Brief (SPQ-B) identified 52 persons high in schizotypy and 40 persons low in schizotypy. All participants were administered a test battery designed to assess two elements of neurocognition, verbal secondary memory (California Verbal Learning Test) and executive functioning (Wisconsin Card Sorting Test), two elements of social cognition, emotion perception (The Awareness of Social Inference Test-Part 1) and theory of mind (The Awareness of Social Inference Test-Parts 2 and 3), and social functioning (Social Adjustment Scale-Self Report). Although the persons with high schizotypy were impaired in social functioning relative to the persons with low schizotypy, they were not impaired in theory of mind, emotion perception, verbal secondary memory, or executive functioning. Theory of mind and verbal secondary memory were correlated in persons with high schizotypy. The present findings suggest that psychometric schizotypes are not impaired in the domains of social cognition and neurocognition examined.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2006

Social perception as a mediator of the influence of early visual processing on functional status in schizophrenia.

OBJECTIVE: The potential of social cognition as a mediator of relations between neurocognition and functional status in schizophrenia has been suggested by correlational studies that link neurocognition to social cognition or link social cognition to functional status. The authors used structural equation modeling to test more directly whether one aspect of social cognition (social perception) mediates relations between basic visual perception and functional status in patients with schizophrenia. METHOD: Seventy-five outpatients with schizophrenia were administered measures of early visual processing (computerized visual masking procedures), social perception (Half Profile of Nonverbal Sensitivity), and functional status (Role Functioning Scale). RESULTS: Structural equation modeling supported social perception as a mediator of relations between early visual processing and functional status in schizophrenia. The mediation model indicated that early visual processing is linked to functional status through social perception, thereby supporting a significant indirect relationship. The direct relationship between early visual processing and functional status was significant in a model that did not include social perception but was not significant in the mediation model that included social perception. CONCLUSIONS: Social cognition appears to be a key determinant of functional status in schizophrenia. Using a very basic measure of visual perception, the present study found that social perception mediates the influence of early visual processing on functional status in schizophrenia.

Ambulatory Care↗

PubMed2005

Sensorimotor gating, orienting and social perception in schizophrenia.

Basic neurocognition and social cognition appear to influence the social impairments of persons with schizophrenia. This study examined relationships between two very basic automatic processes (i.e., sensorimotor gating and orienting) and social perception in schizophrenic patients. Thirty outpatients with schizophrenia completed psychophysiological measures of sensorimotor gating (prepulse inhibition, PPI), orienting (prepulse facilitation, PPF), and social perception (the Half Profile of Nonverbal Sensitivity, Half PONS). A median split was used to divide patients into poor and good gaters and poor and good orienters. Analyses revealed that patients with good PPI scored significantly higher on the Half PONS than patients with poor PPI. PPI showed a significant correlation (r=-0.54) with Half PONS performance, indicating that schizophrenia patients who were better able to gate out competing stimuli (i.e., less startle) were also better at detecting relevant social cues. Orienting (PPF) and social perception were not related. This study is the first to our knowledge to demonstrate an association between sensorimotor gating and social perception. The findings are consistent with other studies that have demonstrated relationships between basic neurocognition and social cognition. By showing a link between sensorimotor gating and social perception, this study supports social cognition's potential role as a mediator of the relationship between neurocognition and social functioning in schizophrenia.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Learning potential and the prediction of work skill acquisition in schizophrenia.

This study examined whether a measure of learning potential could predict work skill acquisition in schizophrenia beyond the prediction offered by a single administration assessment. Fifty-seven outpatients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder completed a test-train-test version of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test as a measure of their learning potential. The outpatients were randomly assigned to training by errorless learning or conventional instruction on two work skills (index card filing and toilet tank assembly). Work skills were assessed both immediately and 3 months after training. Generally, patients with high learning potential performed better on the work skill tasks. Learning potential explained an additional 15 percent of variance beyond single administration assessment in participants' accuracy immediately after work skill training and an additional 13 percent of variance in participants' accuracy 3 months after training. These findings indicate that measures of learning potential contribute to the prediction of work skill acquisition, going beyond the predictive power of single administration assessments.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

A videotape intervention to enhance the informed consent process for medical and psychiatric treatment research.

OBJECTIVE: This study evaluated a brief educational video designed to enhance the informed consent process for people with serious mental and medical illnesses who are considering participating in treatment research. METHOD: Individuals with schizophrenia who were being recruited for ongoing clinical trials, medical patients without self-reported psychiatric comorbidity, and university undergraduates were randomly assigned to view either a highly structured instructional videotape about the consent process in treatment research or a control videotape that presented only general information about bioethical issues in human research. Knowledge about informed consent was measured before and after viewing. RESULTS: Viewing the experimental videotape resulted in larger gains in knowledge about informed consent. Standardized effect sizes were large in all groups. CONCLUSIONS: The videotape was thus an effective teaching tool across diverse populations, ranging from individuals with severe chronic mental illness to university undergraduates.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

Social perception and early visual processing in schizophrenia.

Persons with schizophrenia experience deficits in social cognition-the cognitive processes involved in how people perceive and interpret information about themselves, others, and social situations. These deficits may be related to the neurocognitive impairments often experienced by persons with schizophrenia. Our primary objective was to examine associations between social perception and early visual processing in schizophrenia. Our secondary objective was to examine whether outpatients with schizophrenia and healthy persons differ in social perception. Forty outpatients with schizophrenia and 30 healthy persons completed a measure of social perception (the Half-Profile of Nonverbal Sensitivity), visual masking procedures, and ratings of positive and negative symptoms. Within patients, performance on visual masking procedures was related to performance on the Half-Profile of Nonverbal Sensitivity. Patients with schizophrenia and the healthy persons differed significantly in their performance on the Half-Profile of Nonverbal Sensitivity, but this difference became nonsignificant when education was a covariate. These findings suggest that social perception in schizophrenia is related to very early aspects of visual processing.

Adult↗