Frontiers in Psychiatry (Aug 2021)

When Alterations in Social Cognition Meet Subjective Complaints in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Evaluation With the “ClaCoS” Battery

  • Shasha Morel-Kohlmeyer,
  • Shasha Morel-Kohlmeyer,
  • Shasha Morel-Kohlmeyer,
  • Alix Thillay,
  • Alix Thillay,
  • Sylvie Roux,
  • Isabelle Amado,
  • Isabelle Amado,
  • Isabelle Amado,
  • Lindsay Brenugat,
  • Lindsay Brenugat,
  • Lindsay Brenugat,
  • Isabelle Carteau-Martin,
  • Charlotte Danset-Alexandre,
  • Charlotte Danset-Alexandre,
  • Charlotte Danset-Alexandre,
  • Baptiste Gaudelus,
  • Baptiste Gaudelus,
  • Jérôme Graux,
  • Jérôme Graux,
  • Jérôme Graux,
  • Elodie Peyroux,
  • Elodie Peyroux,
  • Elodie Peyroux,
  • Zelda Prost,
  • Zelda Prost,
  • Zelda Prost,
  • Zelda Prost,
  • Marie-Odile Krebs,
  • Marie-Odile Krebs,
  • Marie-Odile Krebs,
  • Nicolas Franck,
  • Nicolas Franck,
  • Nicolas Franck,
  • Frédérique Bonnet-Brilhault,
  • Frédérique Bonnet-Brilhault,
  • Frédérique Bonnet-Brilhault,
  • Emmanuelle Houy-Durand,
  • Emmanuelle Houy-Durand,
  • Emmanuelle Houy-Durand

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.643551
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12

Abstract

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Background: Deficit in social communication is a core feature in Autism Spectrum Disorder but remains poorly assessed in classical clinical practice, especially in adult populations. This gap between needs and practice is partly due to a lack of standardized evaluation tools. The multicentric Research group in psychiatry GDR3557 (Institut de Psychiatrie) developed a new battery for social cognitive evaluation named “ClaCoS,” which allows testing the main components of social cognition: Emotion Recognition, Theory of Mind, Attributional Style, and Social Perception and Knowledge. It further provides an assessment of subjective complaints in social cognition.Methods: We compared the social cognition abilities of 45 adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder without intellectual disability and 45 neurotypically developed volunteers using the “ClaCoS” battery, in order to determine its relevance in the evaluation of social cognition impairments in autism. A correlational approach allowed us to test the links between subjective complaints and objectively measured impairments for the different components of social cognition.Results: As expected, the Autism Spectrum Disorder group showed deficits in all four components of social cognition. Moreover, they reported greater subjective complaints than controls regarding their social abilities, correlated to the neuropsychological assessments.Conclusion: The “ClaCoS” battery is an interesting tool allowing to assess social impairments in autism and to specify the altered components, for a better adjustment of tailored social cognition training programs. Our results further suggest that people with Autism Spectrum Disorder have a good social cognitive insight, i.e., awareness into social cognitive functioning, and may thus benefit from social cognitive training tools.

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