Evaluation of social cognition of individuals with frontal lobe tumor with video-based real life senario: pilot study

The aim of this study is to examine social cognition skills in individuals with frontal lobe brain tumors (BT) and healthy individuals, and to access the pragmatic components of language through the tests used. A total of 16 individuals, including 8 with Frontal Lobe Tumor (BT) and 8 healthy controls, participated in the study. After collecting sociodemographic information from 16 participants, the Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination was administered to the BT group, and The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MOCA) was administered to the control group, respectively. Subsequently, both groups were evaluated using a pilot tool developed for assessing social cognition: the video-based social scenario. Finally, the M.D. Anderson Symptom Inventory - Brain Tumor (MDASI-BT) was administered to all participants. The control group's Emotional term scores were significantly higher than those of the BT group (Mann Whitney U test; U=11.5; Z=-2.171; p=0.03<0.05). The control group's Linguistic term scores were also significantly higher than those of the BT group (Independent Samples T test; t=-2.415; p=0.03<0.05). No significant relationship was found between quality of life scores and the use of Internal State Terms (IST) (Spearman Correlation Analysis; Pearson Correlation Analysis; p>0.05). There was no statistically significant difference between the control group and the BT group in terms of Physiological terms (Mann Whitney U test; p>0.05). Additionally, no statistically significant difference was found between the control group and the BT group in terms of Cognitive and Metaphorical expressions (Independent samples t-test; p>0.05). The findings indicate that BT patients perform worse in the use of emotional and linguistic terms compared to the control group. These results suggest that brain tumors may adversely affect social cognition and language. It was determined that disorders in sociocognitive functions, potentially arising from the treatment or the tumor itself, can impair interpersonal skills such as recognizing and understanding the emotional and mental perspectives of others. Moreover, the deterioration in pragmatic language skills due to brain tumors can negatively impact patients' daily lives and social relationships. It is concluded that the disease and treatment of brain tumor significantly influence sociocognitive functions in individuals. Consequently, there is a need not only for neurocognitive assessments in BT patients but also for comprehensive evaluation methods focusing on social cognition and language use.