(Social) Cognitive skills and social information processing in children with mild to borderline intellectual disabilities

• Published in: Research in developmental disabilities 2012-03, Vol.33 (2), p.426-434
• Main Authors: van Nieuwenhuijzen, M., Vriens, A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Behavior problems; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Child Behavior - physiology; Children; Cognition Disorders - diagnosis; Cognition Disorders - physiopathology; Cognition Disorders - psychology; Cognitive skills; Emotion recognition; Emotional Development; Emotions - physiology; Female; Humans; Impulsive Behavior - diagnosis; Impulsive Behavior - physiopathology; Impulsive Behavior - psychology; Information Processing; Inhibition; Intellectual deficiency; Intellectual Disability - diagnosis; Intellectual Disability - physiopathology; Intellectual Disability - psychology; Learning disabilities; Male; Medical sciences; Memory, Short-Term - physiology; Mental Retardation; Mild intellectual disabilities; Neuropsychological Tests; Outcomes of Treatment; Perspective Taking; Predictive Value of Tests; Problem Solving - physiology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Severity of Illness Index; Short Term Memory; Social Behavior; Social Cognition; Social cognitive skills; Social information processing; Social skills
• ISSN: 0891-4222; 1873-3379
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ridd.2011.09.025

► Good working memory and emotion recognition are related to encoding information. ► Problems in inhibition predicts more hostile intent attributions. ► Good interpretation skills predict adequate social problem solving. ► Emotion recognition predicts adequate social problem solving skills. The purpose of this study was to examine the unique contributions of (social) cognitive skills such as inhibition, working memory, perspective taking, facial emotion recognition, and interpretation of situations to the variance in social information processing in children with mild to borderline intellectual disabilities. Respondents were 79 children with mild to borderline intellectual disabilities in the age of 8–12 who were given tasks on social cognitive skills and social information processing. The results from the present study show that emotion recognition, interpretation, working memory and inhibition skills predict social information processing skills. It is concluded that especially emotion recognition and interpretation skills are important cognitive skills that predict social information processing, and therefore should be the focus of treatment.