Exploration of the Social Cognition in Adolescents With a Dissociative Disorder or Autism Spectrum

Summary

The schizophrenic disorders and pervasive developmental disorders are neurodevelopmental disorders distinct origin who share common challenges to engage and maintain social relationships and mutual disturbances of affective contact. An important issue of research is to determine the cognitive and brain mechanisms underlying social disability in these two pathologies. Several lines of social cognition have been systematically explored: the perception of emotions, the ability to attribute intentionality and mental states to others (theory of mind), the understanding of social situations in different contexts. We made the observation today that research findings clearly in the field of autism and schizophrenic disorders that converge on common patterns neurocognitive abnormalities. Consequently, many programs support published today use the same therapeutic targets and the same tools in both pathologies. This raises two questions of science: (1) whether the disorders of social cognition reported in the field of autism and schizophrenia are "specific deficit" and not "specific condition", that is to say they are inherent social disadvantage whatever condition or (2) if these disorders of social cognition is a pattern common to autism and schizophrenia but are the result of specific neurocognitive mechanisms and different in each these pathologies. Systematic exploration of these issues is a current issue for understanding the pathophysiological borders between the two neurodevelopmental disorders but also to better define the potential targets of therapeutic strategies, psycho-educational and remediation of disorders of social cognition in autism and schizophrenia.

Main objective: To compare clinical cognitive profiles in adolescents with a schizophrenic disorder, autistic or healthy in the three areas of social cognition: perception of emotions, attribution of intentions to others (theory of mind) and style attribution. We shall constitute three population groups of patients, a group of patients meeting the diagnosis of schizophrenia, a group of patients with autism and a control group (healthy subjects).

Conditions

• Schizophrenia
• Autistic Disorder

Interventions

OTHER

Facial recognition of emotions

The purpose is to consider the recognition of emotions expressed on face in patients with a schizophrenic disorder, autism and in healthy subjects.

OTHER

understanding metaphors

Explore understanding of figurative language, including metaphor, in schizophrenic patients, autistic and healthy, and well understand how patients develop an interpretation from access to speaker's communicative intentionality (theory mind).

OTHER

Attribution of intentionality to others in social situations depending on the type of situation

Compare the style of attribution of intentions in three populations of subjects: schizophrenic, autistic and healthy.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Centre Hospitalier d'Antibes Juans les Pins

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Centre Hospitalier de Cannes

  collaborator OTHER

• Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nice

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Emmanuelle DOR, Medical Doctor · Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nice

Study Design

Allocation

NON_RANDOMIZED

Purpose

OTHER

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

12 Years

Max Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2013-01-31

Primary Completion

2013-04-30

Completion

2013-05-31

Countries

• France

Study Locations