Browsing by Author "Tas C."
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Item Impact of family involvement on social cognition training in clinically stable outpatients with schizophrenia - A randomized pilot study(2012) Tas C.; Danaci A.E.; Cubukcuoglu Z.; Brüne M.Recovery of social functioning is a largely unattained goal in schizophrenia rehabilitation. In the recent past, new neurocognitive and social cognitive training approaches have been introduced to improve functioning in various domains of patients' social life. These programs have neglected, to some degree, the social environment in which the training takes place. Accordingly, the present study sought to examine if family-assisted social cognitive training could improve quality of life, social functioning and social cognition in schizophrenia patients as compared to a social stimulation approach. In a randomized, controlled, parallel group trial design with two groups, one receiving family-assisted social cognitive training once a week (F-SCIT) and the other, social stimulation once every three weeks (SS), both for 14-weeks period, patients were assessed at baseline, before randomization and 16. weeks after randomization. Participants were recruited from Celal Bayar University Psychosis Unit and were in a clinically stable condition. Patients who received F-SCIT significantly improved in quality of life, social functioning and social cognition, whereas the SS group worsened in nearly all outcome variables. Family-assisted SCIT is effective in improving quality of life, social functioning and social cognition. © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd.Item Intrinsic motivation and metacognition as predictors of learning potential in patients with remitted schizophrenia(Elsevier Ltd, 2012) Tas C.; Brown E.C.; Esen-Danaci A.; Lysaker P.H.; Brüne M.Background: Previous research has suggested that neurocognitive functioning predicts best the potential of patients with schizophrenia to acquire newly learned material, which, in turn may impact patients' social functioning. Recent studies have also shown that intrinsic motivation and metacognitive abilities play a decisive role in social functioning in schizophrenia. Accordingly, the present study sought to examine the relationship between intelligence, motivation, metacognition, and learning during a cognitive remediation experimental training. We hypothesized that metacognition and intrinsic motivation would have a strong relationship and independently predict learning potential. Method: Thirty-two patients with schizophrenia who fulfilled the criteria of functional remission were recruited. In a pre-training-post experimental design, patients' learning potential was assessed using previously defined cognitive remediation training for WCST. Intrinsic motivation was examined using Intrinsic Motivation Inventory for schizophrenia; mastery, a domain of metacognition, was measured using the Metacognitive Assessment Scale. Results: Metacognition significantly correlated with subdomains of intrinsic motivation. Patients with higher intrinsic motivation and preserved metacognition improved more in the learning paradigm compared to poorly motivated patients and patients with reduced metacognitive abilities. In particular, " mastery" was determined as an independent predictor of learning potential. Conclusions: Motivation and metacognition are important predictors of learning in schizophrenia. Psychological interventions in schizophrenia may therefore consider incorporating techniques to stimulate metacognitive and motivational abilities as well as developing individualized training programs. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.Item Towards an integrative approach to understanding quality of life in schizophrenia: The role of neurocognition, social cognition, and psychopathology(2013) Tas C.; Brown E.; Cubukcuoglu Z.; Aydemir O.; Danaci A.E.; Brüne M.The term "schizophrenia" refers to a debilitating group of disorders that usually results in a severely impaired quality of life (QoL). Symptomatology appears to have a substantial role in determining QoL, although the relationship between QoL and specific psychotic symptoms is still unclear and has demonstrated mixed results. Due to the intrinsic importance of social functioning in QoL, and the mediating effect of social cognition on social functioning, the aim of this study was to try to investigate QoL in schizophrenia, not only in terms of symptomatology, but also in consideration of potential neurocognitive and social cognitive contributing factors. Methods: Twenty-eight clinically stable patients with schizophrenia performed a broad range of neurocognitive and social cognitive assessments, and also participated in a semi-structured interview of QoL, assessing four partially independent subdomains of QoL. A stepwise regression model was used to determine the best predictors of QoL, and additionally a mediator analysis was performed to test for the mediating power of social cognition on QoL. Results: Negative symptoms, intelligence, executive functioning and social cognition all had some power in predicting QoL in schizophrenia. Though most interestingly, mental state reasoning was specifically found to be most strongly related with the Intrapsychic Foundation subdomain of QoL, whereas neurocognition and symptom severity were associated with other subdomains of QoL. Conclusions: The association between mental state reasoning and the more "internal" aspects of QoL in schizophrenia may reflect a specific role for social cognition in introspective and subjective judgments of one's own QoL, whereas neurocognition and negative symptomatology may be more predictive of the external or extrinsic aspects of QoL. In conclusion, social cognitive skills appear to play a crucial role in the experience of one's own subjective well-being, which could help to explain previous inconsistencies in the literature investigating QoL in schizophrenia. © 2013 Elsevier Inc.Item Oxidative stress in schizophrenia: A case-control study on the effects on social cognition and neurocognition(BioMed Central Ltd., 2014) Gonzalez-Liencres C.; Tas C.; Brown E.C.; Erdin S.; Onur E.; Cubukcoglu Z.; Aydemir O.; Esen-Danaci A.; Brüne M.Background: Schizophrenia is a debilitating mental disorder that presents impairments in neurocognition and social cognition. Several studies have suggested that the etiology of schizophrenia can be partly explained by oxidative stress. However, our knowledge about the implications of oxidative stress on illness-related cognitive deficits is still far from being clear. The aim of this work was to study the role of oxidative stress molecules on social cognition and neurocognition in patients with schizophrenia.Methods: We assessed the peripheral levels of several molecules associated with oxidative stress, namely nitric oxide (NO), malondialdehyde (MDA), glutathione (GSH), homocysteine, superoxide dismutase (SOD) and neurotrophin 4/5 (NT4/5), in forty-one patients with schizophrenia and forty-three healthy participants. A battery of tests to measure neurocognition and social cognition was also administered to the schizophrenia group.Results: We found that the schizophrenia group presented substantially higher levels of oxidative stress than the control group, as revealed by elevated quantities of the pro-oxidants NO and MDA, and decreased levels of the antioxidants GSH, SOD and NT4/5. Interestingly, the levels of NT4/5, which have been shown to have antioxidant effects, correlated with executive functioning, as measured by two distinct tests (WCST and TMT). However, social cognition and symptom severity were not found to be associated with oxidative stress.Conclusions: We propose a protective role of NT4/5 against oxidative stress, which appears to have a potentially beneficial impact on neurocognition in schizophrenia. © 2014 Gonzalez-Liencres et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.Item Social approach and avoidance behaviour for negative emotions is modulated by endogenous oxytocin and paranoia in schizophrenia(Elsevier Ireland Ltd, 2014) Brown E.C.; Tas C.; Kuzu D.; Esen-Danaci A.; Roelofs K.; Brüne M.Patients with schizophrenia suffer from dysfunctional social behaviour. Social approach and avoidance (AA) has been associated with motor responses, as the affective valence and gaze direction of facial stimuli can bias push and pull motor tendencies. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of endogenous oxytocin in social AA behaviour in schizophrenia. Basal plasma oxytocin levels were collected from 28 patients who were then given a joystick-based Approach-Avoidance Task (AAT). Reaction times were recorded and AAT effect scores calculated for responses to happy and angry faces, which either had direct or averted gaze. Individual differences in basal oxytocin had a significant relationship with AAT responses, and patients with higher levels of oxytocin tended to avoid angry faces more. Furthermore, greater avoidance of angry faces was correlated with more severe psychotic (positive and general) symptoms and greater paranoia. This suggests that the endogenous effects of oxytocin may be specific to the interpretation of negative threatening emotions in schizophrenia patients, and also provides evidence that psychotic symptoms and paranoia can impact on social AA behaviour by heightening threat avoidance. © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd.Item Metacognition in psychosis: Comparison of schizophrenia with bipolar disorder(Elsevier Ireland Ltd, 2014) Tas C.; Brown E.C.; Aydemir O.; Brüne M.; Lysaker P.H.While deficits in metacognition have been observed in schizophrenia (SZ), it is less clear whether these are specific to the disorder. Accordingly, this study compared metacognitive abilities of patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder (BD) and examined the degree to which neurocognition contributed to metacognitive deficits in both groups. Participants were 30 patients with SZ and 30 with BD. Metacognitive capacity was measured using the Metacognition Assessment Scale Abbreviated (MAS-A). This scale comprises four domains: self-reflectivity, understanding others' minds, decentration and mastery. Verbal memory, executive functioning and symptoms were concurrently assessed. Group comparisons revealed that SZ patients had greater deficits in metacognitive self-reflectivity, which correctly classified 85.2% of patients with SZ in a logistic regression. Self-reflectivity and understanding others' minds were related to verbal memory and executive functioning in the SZ group, but not in the BD group. Furthermore, greater positive and general psychotic symptoms were associated with poorer metacognition in SZ. Results suggest SZ involves unique deficits in the ability to self-reflect and that these deficits may be uniquely linked with neurocognition. © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd.Item A closer look at the relationship between the subdomains of social functioning, social cognition and symptomatology in clinically stable patients with schizophrenia(2014) Brown E.C.; Tas C.; Can H.; Esen-Danaci A.; Brüne M.Impairments in social functioning commonly seen in schizophrenia are thought to be mediated by deficits in the domains of social cognition. Some previous research has explored how social cognitive skills and psychotic symptoms are associated with social functioning, however these associations are still under debate. The main aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between different domains of social cognition and psychotic symptomatology, and also to look at the relationships with individual subdomains of social functioning within a clinically stable schizophrenia population. 45 outpatients were recruited and symptoms were assessed with the PANSS, and measures of emotion processing, affective and cognitive theory of mind (ToM), mental state reasoning attributional biases, and social functioning were taken. A correlational analysis was performed with the data. Following this, a regression analysis was used to reveal which domains of social cognition best predicted psychotic symptoms. In this stable group of patients, our results support the suggestion of a likely distinction between affective and cognitive components of ToM. The study also demonstrated that ToM and mental state reasoning were the best predictors of psychotic symptoms. Here we reveal that cognitive ToM had the most widespread relationship with social functioning, across multiple subdomains, while only some specific subdomains of social functioning correlated with other domains of social cognition and symptomatology. Further to this, positive symptoms were associated with much fewer subdomains of social functioning than negative and general symptoms. These findings imply that different aspects of social functioning may be served by different domains of social cognition and symptomatology. © 2014 Elsevier Inc.Item The associations between endogenous oxytocin levels and emotion recognition in bipolar disorder(Cukurova Univ Tip Fakultesi Psikiyatri Anabilim Dali, 2015) Tas C.; Brown E.C.; Onur E.; Aydemir O.; Brune M.Objective: Recent studies in patients with Bipolar Disorder (BD) have revealed problems in emotion recognition, specifically for negative emotions, which have been subsequently related to amygdala activity. Previously, the prosocial neuropeptide oxytocin has been shown to be one hormone that alters emotion perception capacities and modulates amygdala response. Accordingly, the aim of this study was to see if plasma oxytocin levels have specific effects on predicting emotion recognition patterns in BD. Methods: Twenty-eight remitted BD patients were recruited for this study and the Vienna Emotion Recognition Task was given. In addition, blood samples were collected for plasma oxytocin analysis. Results: Strong associations were found between fearful emotions and basal oxytocin levels, which were supported by a stepwise regression analysis. Patients with higher levels of basal oxytocin also exhibited greater recognition of fearful emotions. Conclusions: The relationship between recognition of fearful faces and individual endogenous oxytocin levels may contribute to explaining individual differences in social functioning and amygdala dysfunction in BD. © 2015, Cukurova Univ Tip Fakultesi Psikiyatri Anabilim Dali. All rights reserved.Item The developmental origins of metacognitive deficits in schizophrenia(Elsevier Ireland Ltd, 2016) Aydin O.; Balikci K.; Tas C.; Aydin P.U.; Danaci A.E.; Brüne M.; Lysaker P.H.The deficits in metacognition have been observed in schizophrenia but developmental roots of impaired metacognition are not well understood. Accordingly, this study compared metacognitive abilities of patients with schizophrenia and healthy group and examined the relationship between childhood trauma, attachment style and caregiver attitudes with metacognitive capacity which might contribute to metacognitive deficits in patient group. 35 patients with schizophrenia and 35 healthy people were included in the study. Metacognitive capacity was measured using the Metacognition Assessment Scale Abbreviated (MAS-A). This scale comprises four domains: self-reflectivity, understanding other's mind, decentration and mastery. Group comparisons revealed that schizophrenia patients had greater deficits in metacognitive ability. We found that the report of childhood emotional abuse, a pattern of anxious attachment and over protection by caregivers were uniquely related to metacognitive capacity. © 2016 Elsevier Ireland LtdItem Oxytocin and social cognition in patients with schizophrenia: Comparison with healthy siblings and healthy controls(Taylor and Francis Ltd., 2018) Balikci K.; Aydin O.; Tas C.; Danaci A.E.Objective: There is substantial evidence from animal research indicating a key role of the neuropeptide oxytocin (OT) in the regulation of complex social cognition and behaviour. Social cognition is indispensable for social relationships for the whole of human society, and numerous studies have shown impaired social cognition in schizophrenia (SCH) and unaffected first-degree relatives also seem to be impaired, albeit to a lesser extent. Because of that, this study focuses on the role of OT in social cognition in SCH. Methods: Twenty-seven patients with SCH, 27 healthy siblings (HS) of these patients, and 27 psychologically healthy controls (HC) were included in the study. Blood samples were collected through a peripheral venous catheter. Differences in the socio-demographical and WAIS-R were tested by chi-square and one way-ANOVA. To explore the relationships between social cognition and blood samples we performed Pearson correlations. MANCOVA (gender and WAIS-R as covariates) test was performed to investigate the effect of gender on blood levels of OT and WAIS-R on social cognition. Results: Significant differences were found in neurocognitive and social cognitive capacity but not in OT levels. In the healthy control group, there was a positive correlation between blood OT levels and RMET. There is a statistically significant difference between high and low OT groups with regard to social cognition in all subtests of the RMET. Conclusions: In the current study, we found that patients had deficits in social cognition and neurocognition. Lower endogenous OT levels are also predictive for poor social cognitive functioning in HS and HC. © 2018, The authors.Item Cortisol response to stress in schizophrenia: Associations with oxytocin, social support and social functioning(Elsevier Ireland Ltd, 2018) Tas C.; Brown E.C.; Eskikurt G.; Irmak S.; Aydın O.; Esen-Danaci A.; Brüne M.Previous studies reported attenuated cortisol reactivity as one explanation for poor social functioning in schizophrenia. Recent research has demonstrated that both glucocorticoid and oxytocin systems are central to stress regulation. Here, we studied the associations between basal oxytocin, stress-induced cortisol levels, and social functioning and social support in schizophrenia. A mock job interview was used as an ecologically-valid social stressor in 32 schizophrenia patients. Blood samples were taken before and after stress induction to assess basal oxytocin and cortisol levels. In addition social functioning and social support scales were collected. Patients were divided into cortisol responders and non-responders according to percentage change following stress induction. Our findings revealed a possible subgroup of patients who did not exhibit attenuated cortisol responses. Importantly, cortisol responders had generally better social functioning, but perceived social support was not different between groups. There was also no evidence of a relationship between cortisol and oxytocin. This study highlights the heterogeneity of cortisol responses to stress in a schizophrenia population, and the importance of the relationship between social functioning and cortisol reactivity. These findings could be relevant when considering therapeutic interventions that manipulate endocrinology in order to improve real-world functioning. © 2018 Elsevier B.V.