Social cognition, information processing style and subthreshold autistic features in early psychotic disorders

The purpose of this study; to examine the five domains of social cognition and information processing in individuals with first episode psychosis, ultra high-risk for psychosis groups and healthy controls, and to evaluate sub-threshold autistic features in these groups. The sample of the study performed in Dokuz Eylül University constitutes of 42 first episode psychosis (FEP), 50 ultra high-risk for psychosis (UHR-P) and 34 healthy controls (HC) and a total of 126 people. Social cognitive functions were evaluated using PENN-40 for emotion recognition, Hinting Task and RMET for Theory of Mind, PONS for Social Perception, SFRT and SNQ for Social Knowledge, IPSAQ for Attributional Bias. JTC for Decision Making, NAVON for Global Local Processing and Block Design tests were applied. Autism Questionnaire was used to evaluate autistic findings. According to the results of the study, FEP and UHR-P showed significant impairments in all five domains of social cognition and information processing style compared to the HC group. When comparing the groups; it was concluded that there was a significant hypermentalization error (p=0.009) in the FEP group compared to the UHR-P groups and more external situational attribution (p=0.031) in the FEP group compared to the UHR-P group. No significant difference was observed between the FEP and UHR-P groups in global local processing. It was observed that participants with autistic symptoms performed worse in social cognitive functions, decision-making skills, and global local processing compared to those without autistic symptoms. In conclusion, it is important to apply studies in these groups in order to help early onset of schizophrenia and to detect autistic symptoms in individuals with schizophrenia. Since there is no known study that works on five domains of social cognition at the same time, evaluates decision-making skills and global local processing, and also addresses autistic findings in FEP and UHR-P groups, significant differences can be a guide for future studies.