Clinical Use of SocIal coGNition measures for the AssessmenT of neURocognitivE Disorders

The Signature Consortium is an international collaborative study group involving researchers, methodologists, physicians, psychologists and stakeholders with the ultimate goal of promoting the implementation of social cognition measures in the clinical practice of memory clinics. The initiative is the result of a current constructive dialogue between the clinical world and the research reality toward a better evidence-based clinical practice

Social cognition is a complex domain including a set of cognitive processes underlying the ability to interpret others’ intentions & behaviors and to adapt social behavior accordingly. It includes processes involved in the perception of social signals (e.g., emotional expression), inference of other's mental states, and planning of behaviors taking into consideration others’ goals, in addition to one’s own

Neuropsychological testing is a clinical examination to evaluate superior cognitive functioning. Social cognition has been explicitly acknowledged (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, DSM-V) as one of the domains to be assessed in neurocognitive disorders, together with executive functions, complex attention, perceptual motor function, language and learning & memory