TY - JOUR
T1 - The Relationship between Negative Symptoms and Both Emotion Management and Non-social Cognition in Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders
AU - Yolland, Caitlin O.B.
AU - Carruthers, Sean P.
AU - Toh, Wei Lin
AU - Neill, Erica
AU - Sumner, Philip J.
AU - Thomas, Elizabeth H.X.
AU - Tan, Eric J.
AU - Gurvich, Caroline
AU - Phillipou, Andrea
AU - Van Rheenen, Tamsyn E.
AU - Rossell, Susan L.
PY - 2021/10
Y1 - 2021/10
N2 - Objective: There is ongoing debate regarding the relationship between clinical symptoms and cognition in schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD). The present study aimed to explore the potential relationships between symptoms, with an emphasis on negative symptoms, and social and non-social cognition. Method: Hierarchical cluster analysis with k-means optimisation was conducted to characterise clinical subgroups using the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms and Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms in n = 130 SSD participants. Emergent clusters were compared on the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery, which measures non-social cognition and emotion management as well as demographic and clinical variables. Spearman's correlations were then used to investigate potential relationships between specific negative symptoms and emotion management and non-social cognition. Results: Four distinct clinical subgroups were identified: 1. high hallucinations, 2. mixed symptoms, 3. high negative symptoms, and 4. relatively asymptomatic. The high negative symptom subgroup was found to have significantly poorer emotion management than the high hallucination and relatively asymptomatic subgroups. No further differences between subgroups were observed. Correlation analyses revealed avolition-apathy and anhedonia-asociality were negatively correlated with emotion management, but not non-social cognition. Affective flattening and alogia were not associated with either emotion management or non-social cognition. Conclusions: The present study identified associations between negative symptoms and emotion management within social cognition, but no domains of non-social cognition. This relationship may be specific to motivation, anhedonia and apathy, but not expressive deficits. This suggests that targeted interventions for social cognition may also result in parallel improvement in some specific negative symptoms.
AB - Objective: There is ongoing debate regarding the relationship between clinical symptoms and cognition in schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD). The present study aimed to explore the potential relationships between symptoms, with an emphasis on negative symptoms, and social and non-social cognition. Method: Hierarchical cluster analysis with k-means optimisation was conducted to characterise clinical subgroups using the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms and Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms in n = 130 SSD participants. Emergent clusters were compared on the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery, which measures non-social cognition and emotion management as well as demographic and clinical variables. Spearman's correlations were then used to investigate potential relationships between specific negative symptoms and emotion management and non-social cognition. Results: Four distinct clinical subgroups were identified: 1. high hallucinations, 2. mixed symptoms, 3. high negative symptoms, and 4. relatively asymptomatic. The high negative symptom subgroup was found to have significantly poorer emotion management than the high hallucination and relatively asymptomatic subgroups. No further differences between subgroups were observed. Correlation analyses revealed avolition-apathy and anhedonia-asociality were negatively correlated with emotion management, but not non-social cognition. Affective flattening and alogia were not associated with either emotion management or non-social cognition. Conclusions: The present study identified associations between negative symptoms and emotion management within social cognition, but no domains of non-social cognition. This relationship may be specific to motivation, anhedonia and apathy, but not expressive deficits. This suggests that targeted interventions for social cognition may also result in parallel improvement in some specific negative symptoms.
KW - Cluster analysis
KW - Cognition
KW - Negative Symptoms
KW - Psychosis
KW - Schizoaffective disorder
KW - Schizophrenia
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85098125190&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1017/S1355617720001290
DO - 10.1017/S1355617720001290
M3 - Article
C2 - 33342446
AN - SCOPUS:85098125190
SN - 1355-6177
VL - 27
SP - 916
EP - 928
JO - Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society
JF - Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society
IS - 9
ER -