Assessing social-cognitive deficits in schizophrenia.

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Functional assessment in schizophrenia has become a recent NIMH priority (PA-05-037). The cognitive deficits associated with the illness are potentially important factors limiting functional recovery from the disorder. Research has suggested that deficits in social cognition may be particularly important to functional outcome. Unfortunately, reliable and valid social-cognitive assessments are sparse. The broad goal of this research is to contribute to the ongoing efforts of elucidating the functional significance of social-cognitive deficits in schizophrenia and the relevance of such deficits as specific targets for future schizophrenia treatments, through the examination of a promising measure of social cognition. Specifically, this project proposes to conduct a preliminary investigation on the use of the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT), a promising ability-based measure of emotional intelligence (and also included in the NIMH-MATRICS battery), for assessing social cognition in schizophrenia. This will be accomplished by utilizing longitudinal data from an ongoing trial of Cognitive Enhancement Therapy to estimate the reliability, validity, and longitudinal contribution to functional outcome of the MSCEIT as applied to individuals with schizophrenia. Results will be used to propose a systematic plan of research to conduct a more comprehensive validation of the MSCEIT and initiate the development of treatments to remediate social-cognitive deficits evinced by this instrument that have direct bearing on functional outcome. The results of this research have the potential to make an important public health contribution by pointing to the importance of social-cognitive deficits to social and functional disability in schizophrenia, and providing a preliminary systematic evaluation of a promising instrument to measure these deficits. These results will be used to contribute to ongoing scientific efforts to understand the cognitive correlates of functional disability in schizophrenia and develop targeted treatment strategies to improve social and behavioral outcomes among this population.