Social Cognition in Individuals with Progressive Multiple Sclerosis: A Pilot Study Using TASIT-S.

OBJECTIVE: Individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS) can have difficulty on tasks requiring social cognition, including Theory of Mind (ToM) and facial affect recognition. However, most research on social cognition in MS has focused on Relapsing-Remitting MS; less is known about deficits in individuals with progressive MS. This pilot study examined the social cognitive abilities of individuals with progressive MS on a dynamic social cognition task: The Awareness of Social Inference Test - Short Form (TASIT-S). METHODS: Fifteen individuals with progressive MS and 17 healthy controls performed TASIT-S, which includes 3 subtests assessing facial affect recognition and ToM. RESULTS: The MS group was impaired on all subtests of TASIT-S, including Emotion Evaluation, Social Inference - Minimal, and Social Inference - Enriched, which examine facial affect recognition and ToM. Deficits on TASIT-S were significantly correlated with several cognitive abilities including working memory, learning memory, and verbal IQ. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest individuals with progressive MS were impaired across multiple social cognition domains as assessed by the TASIT-S. Furthermore, social cognitive abilities were related to cognitive abilities such as visuospatial memory and executive abilities. Results are discussed in terms of social cognition deficits in MS and how they relate to cognitive abilities.