Conversation-based assessment of social cognition in adults with traumatic brain injury

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to characterize performance of individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI) on a novel video-based test, the Video Social Inference Test (VSIT). The VSIT was designed to capture social inference processes that would be engaged in daily conversations. The test required both initial social inferences and also predictions or explanations of subsequent behaviours. RESEARCH DESIGN: Between-groups comparison. METHODS: Adults with TBI (n = 19) and typical controls matched for age and sex (n = 19) completed the VSIT, as well as a working memory test and the Eyes Test, a widely-used picture-based test of social cognition. RESULTS: VSIT scores were lower in the TBI group and higher than on the Eyes Test. Participants in both groups had lower scores when required to predict or explain future behaviours based on an initial social inference. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: The results suggest that conversation-based stimuli may yield unique and useful information about social cognition beyond the laboratory.