Social isolation and social cognition: A cross-sectional analysis.

Background: The impact of social isolation on social cognition is not entirely clear.
Objective: The aim of the study is to investigate the association between social isolation and social cognition.
Methods: In a population-based sample of 83 individuals aged 50+ years without dementia, we assessed the relationship between social isolation (measured by the Lubben Social Network Scale - LSNS-6) and performance on emotional recognition (measured by the Emotion Recognition Task (ERT)) and on Theory of Mind (ToM) abilities (measured by the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET)), two core aspects of social cognition.
Results: No significant association was found between social isolation and ToM abilities for both the unadjusted and adjusted models. Similarly, no significant association was observed between social isolation and emotion recognition.
Conclusions: Further research is needed to understand the complex correlation between social relationships and cognitive health, particularly in different cognitive domains, adopting a life course perspective.
Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interestsThe authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.