Assessment of sociocognitive functions in neurological patients Presentation of a French adaptation of two tools and implementation in frontal dementia ; Présentation d’une batterie d’évaluation des fonctions sociocognitives chez des patients atteints d’affections neurologiques. Application dans la démence frontale

International audience ; Theory of Mind (ToM) is the ability to attribute independent mental states to self and others to explain and predict behavior. Impairment of ToM is well established in developmental pathologies. In neurological populations, investigation of ToM is still rare but data suggest that ToM impairment could contribute to behavioral and social disturbances. In addition to neurological signs, multiple sclerosis (MS) presents with disorders of cognition and behavior directly related to brain damage. The aim of this study was to assess ToM abilities and recognition of facial emotional expression in adults with MS. We compared 64 patients with relapsing MS and 30 matched healthy controls on three levels of ToM tasks, a facial emotion recognition task, and a neuropsychological assessment. MS patients performed significantly worse than controls in emotion recognition and all ToM tasks ( p < .02). These deficits were not correlated with demographic variables or neuropsychological test performance. These findings underscore the importance of assessing ToM and facial recognition in MS, as dysfunction in these areas may impact upon social interaction and, thus, impair quality of life for both patients with MS and their families. ( JINS , 2011, 17 , 1122–1131) ; Cet article présente une batterie destinée à l’évaluation clinique des capacités sociocognitives chez des patients de langue française atteints d’affections neurologiques. Cette batterie comporte un volet d’évaluation des émotions : tâche de reconnaissance d’émotions faciales primaires, tâche de discrimination d’émotions faciales, tâche de jugement d’intensité expressive, tâche d’identification de genre, tâche de reconnaissance d’émotions musicales. Un second volet sociocognitif concerne la théorie de l’esprit (tâches d’attribution de pensées à autrui de premier, second ordre et faux pas) et les normes sociales (tâche de jugements moraux et conventionnels, tâche de situations sociales) ainsi que le langage abstrait et l’humour. Une description ...