Social Cognition Abilities in Patients with Chronic Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

Background: Social cognition is a high-level cognitive function that includes all the processes that are used to understand and store information about the interactions with other people in a social context. Perception of social signals pertaining to others’ mental states is essential to act appropriately in that social context. Low performances in mentalizing abilities on different Theory of Mind (ToM) tasks have been reported in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE).

Aim: To investigate social cognition abilities in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy.

Materials and Methods:: Thirty-two consecutive patients with TLE (19 males; mean age = 27 ± 11.7 years) and 30 controls (mean age = 25.24 + 5.9 years) are taken into study. Demographic profile, age at onset, ictal semiology, seizure frequency, and response to treatment are studied. All underwent prolonged video EEG monitoring, MRI brain to locate the side of lesion. Affective and cognitive aspects of Faux Pas in the form of 20 stories are assessed in both patients and controls.

Results: Patients with TLE showed significantly lower performances on both social, cognition tasks when compared with controls.

Conclusion: Patients with TLE are found to be deficient in perceiving other's feelings in social context that may impair daily living.