Realization of near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) as a clinical examination for social cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia and mood disorders.

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An experimental setting has been successfully established to reveal characteristics of social cognition dysfunction as a clinical examination during a face-to-face conversation task of two subjects using near-infrared spectroscopy(NIRS)owing to its high time resolution and noninvasiveness. Employing the established setting, brain substrates of social cognition were investigated in 8patients with schizophrenia, 10patients with major depressive disorder, 10patients with bipolar disorder, and 10healthy subjects. All the four groups demonstrated overall frontal activations during the task in the decreasing order of the control, schizophrenia, depression, and bipolar groups, and its fluctuation during the speaking vs. listening periods was also observed in the decreasing order of the control, depression, bipolar and schizophrenia groups. These results suggest possible availability of NIRS examination just during interpersonal activities for the objective assessment of social cognition deficits in psychiatric disorders.