Social cognition and executive functioning in multiple sclerosis: A cluster-analytic approach

Abstract

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is associated with deficits in social cognition, the process underlying social interaction and cognitive function. However, the relationships between executive impairment and social cognition remain unclear in MS. Previous studies exclusively focused on group comparisons between healthy controls and patients with MS, treating the latter as a homogeneous population. The variability of socio- and neurocognitive profiles in this pathology therefore remains underexplored. In the present study, we used a cluster analytic approach to explore the heterogeneity of executive and social cognition skills in MS. A total of 106 patients with MS were compared with 53 healthy matched controls on executive (e.g., working memory) and social cognition (facial emotion recognition and theory of mind) performances. A cluster analysis was then performed, focusing on the MS sample, to explore the presence of differential patterns of interaction between executive and social cognition difficulties and their links to sociodemographic, clinical and cognitive variables. We identified three distinct functional profiles: patients with no executive or social cognition deficits (Cluster 1); patients with difficulties in facial emotion recognition and theory of mind and, to a lesser extent, executive functioning (Cluster 2); and patients with executive functioning difficulties only (Cluster 3). Clinical characteristics (disease duration, disability, fatigue) did not differ between clusters. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that there are qualitative differences in the social cognition and executive difficulties that are commonly found among patients with MS. If replicated, the identification of these profiles in clinical practice could allow for more individualized rehabilitation.

Keywords: cluster analysis; demyelinating diseases; executive functions; facial emotion recognition; social cognition; theory of mind.