Social Cognition in Autism and Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders: The Same but Different?

Social cognition impairment is a core shared phenotype in both schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD) and autism spectrum disorders (ASD). This study compares social cognition performance through four different instruments in a sample of 147 individuals with ASD or SSD and in healthy controls. We found that both clinical groups perform similarly to each other and worse than healthy controls in all social cognition tasks. Only performance on the Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition (MASC) test was independent of age and intelligence. Proportionately, individuals in the control group made significantly more overmentalization errors than both patients group did and made fewer undermentalization errors than patients with SSD did. AUC analyses showed that the MASC was the instrument that best discriminated between the clinical and control groups. Multivariate analysis showed negative symptom severity as a potential mediator of the association between social cognition deficit and poor global functioning.

[Transient global amnesia: a review. II. Neurocognitive analysis]. / Amnesia global transitoria: una revision. II. Análisis neurocognitivo.

INTRODUCTION: Transient global amnesia (TGA) is a neuropsychological syndrome characterized by an abrupt and temporary loss of capacity of creating new memories and whose etiology is still unclear. AIM. To review available knowledge about the status of different memory systems when TGA is suffered and when an amnesic episode is over. DEVELOPMENT: Two topics have been analysed: first, the current conception of memory as an entity with different systems and, second, how different memory systems are affected by TGA. Finally, levels of recovery of the different systems after a TGA episode are analysed. CONCLUSIONS: The present state of knowledge about memory deficits associated with TGA is still limited and there are still some questions without a clear answer, particularly regarding recovery. Furthermore, studies often present theoretical and/or methodological inconsistencies.

[Transient global amnesia: a review. I. Clinical aspects]. / Amnesia global transitoria: una revision. I. Aspectos clinicos.

INTRODUCTION: Transient global amnesia (TGA) is a neuropsychological syndrome in which a sudden, temporary loss of the capacity of creating new memories and a retrograde amnesia of variable intensity occur, whereas consciousness, personal identity and attention are preserved. AIM: To review different clinical aspects about TGA. DEVELOPMENT: Accordingly, the following topics will be reviewed: definition and diagnosis criteria, types of amnesias which should be ruled out and their peculiarities and differences with TGA, epidemiological data such as incidence, age, sex, educational level of the patients and number of TGA episodes, most frequent scene where TGA appears, and most common triggering events. Additionally, classical proposals about its possible etiology (epilepsy, vascular disease and migraine) and other new theories (Leao's spreading depression or influence of stress) will be revised. Finally, different data about neuroimaging studies in patients with TGA will be reviewed. CONCLUSIONS: There are data and arguments in favour and against the hypotheses regarding etiology of TGA, but there is no current consensus on a theory which explains in a satisfactory way the nature of this kind of amnesia.

Amnesia global transitoria: una revisión. II. Análisis neurocognitivo / Transient global amnesia: a review. II. Neurocognitive analysis

La amnesia global transitoria (AGT) es un síndrome neuropsicológico caracterizado por una pérdidasúbita y pasajera de la capacidad para crear nuevos recuerdos y cuya etiología continúa sin estar clara. Objetivo. Revisar el conocimiento existente sobre qué sucede con los diferentes sistemas de memoria cuando se padece AGT y una vez superado el episodio amnésico. Desarrollo. Se ha analizado, por una parte, la concepción actual de la memoria en la que se consideraa ésta como una entidad con diferentes sistemas y, por otra, cómo afecta la AGT a tales sistemas de memoria. Asimismo, se han revisado los niveles de recuperación de los diferentes sistemas tras el episodio de AGT. Conclusiones. El estado actual del conocimiento sobre los déficit de memoria asociados a la AGT sigue siendo limitado y quedan aún determinadas cuestiones sin una respuesta clara, sobre todo, la relativa a la recuperación. Además, los estudios de los que se dispone presentan en muchos casos ciertas inconsistencias teóricas o metodológicas

Transient global amnesia (TGA) is a neuropsychological syndrome characterized by an abrupt andtemporary loss of capacity of creating new memories and whose etiology is still unclear. Aim. To review available knowledge about the status of different memory systems when TGA is suffered and when an amnesic episode is over. Development. Two topics have been analysed: first, the current conception of memory as an entity with different systems and, second, how different memory systems are affected by TGA. Finally, levels of recovery of the different systems after a TGA episode are analysed. Conclusions. The present state of knowledge about memory deficits associated with TGA is still limited and there are still some questions without a clear answer, particularly regarding recovery. Furthermore, studies often present theoreticaland/or methodological inconsistencies

Amnesia global transitoria: una revisión. I. Aspectos clínicos / Transient global amnesia: a review. I. Clinical aspects

La amnesia global transitoria (AGT) es un síndrome neuropsicológico en el que se produce una pérdidaabrupta y pasajera de la capacidad para crear nuevos recuerdos, así como una amnesia retrógrada de intensidad variable, mientras que la conciencia, la identidad personal y la atención permanecen preservadas. Objetivo. Revisar los diferentes aspectos clínicos relativos a la AGT. Desarrollo. Se analizan los siguientes temas: su definición y criterios diagnósticos, quéotro tipo de amnesias se deben descartar y cuáles son sus peculiaridades y diferencias con la AGT, datos epidemiológicos, como su incidencia, edad, sexo, nivel educativo de los pacientes y el número de episodios que se suelen dar, cuáles son los escenariosmás frecuentes en los que aparece la AGT y los sucesos desencadenantes habituales. Además, se revisarán las propuestas clásicas sobre su posible etiología (epilepsia, enfermedad cerebrovascular y migraña) y otras nuevas teorías (el fenómeno de la depresión propagada de Leao o la influencia del estrés). Por último, se revisan los diferentes datos de los que se dispone sobre estudios de neuroimagen en pacientes con AGT. Conclusión. Las diferentes hipótesis revisadas sobre la etiología de la AGT cuentan con datos y argumentos a favor y en contra, aunque todavía no existe consenso en torno a una teoría que expliquesatisfactoriamente la naturaleza de este tipo de amnesia

Transient global amnesia (TGA) is a neuropsychological syndrome in which a sudden, temporary lossof the capacity of creating new memories and a retrograde amnesia of variable intensity occur, whereas consciousness, personal identity and attention are preserved. Aim. To review different clinical aspects about TGA. Development. Accordingly, the following topics will be reviewed: definition and diagnosis criteria, types of amnesias which should be ruled out and their peculiarities and differences with TGA, epidemiological data such as incidence, age, sex, educational level of the patients and number of TGA episodes, most frequent scene where TGA appears, and most common triggering events. Additionally,classical proposals about its possible etiology (epilepsy, vascular disease and migraine) and other new theories (Leao’s spreading depression or influence of stress) will be revised. Finally, different data about neuroimaging studies in patients with TGA will be reviewed. Conclusions. There are data and arguments in favour and against the hypotheses regarding etiology of TGA, but there is no current consensus on a theory which explains in a satisfactory way the nature of this kind of amnesia