Metacognitive skills training and computerized cognitive remediation among individuals with first-episode psychosis: influence on social cognition

ABSTRACT

Background

Metacognitive skills training (MST) is often integrated into cognitive remediation programs for psychosis. Social cognition – the mental processes underlying social perception and behavior – is robustly related to outcomes in psychosis and is increasingly addressed with targeted treatments. Though metacognition and social cognition are related constructs, little is known about how MST may influence social cognition among individuals with psychosis participating in broad-based, non-social cognitive remediation.

Methods

Individuals with first-episode psychosis who completed six months of metacognitive remediation (MCR; n = 12) were compared to a historical control group who received six months of computerized cognition remediation (CCR; n = 10) alone (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT01570972).

Results

Though individuals receiving MCR experienced gains in emotion processing and theory of mind, these changes were not significantly different when compared to individuals receiving CCR. MST did not contribute to social cognitive change in the context of CCR.

Discussion

Though MST may be relevant to facilitating social cognitive gains within broader cognitive remediation programs for first-episode psychosis, these benefits are limited and may not exceed those conferred by standard cognitive remediation. Opportunities for investigation of other potential mechanisms of social cognitive response to interventions remain.

KEYWORDS:

• Early intervention
• social cognition
• first-episode psychosis
• cognitive remediation
• metacognition

Acknowledgments

The project described was supported by Award Number Grant KL2TR002734 from the National Center For Advancing Translational Sciences (to AMM). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Center For Advancing Translational Sciences or the National Institutes of Health.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Due to the nature of this study, participants of this study did not agree for their data to be shared publicly, so supporting data are not available.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences [KL2TR002734].