Disorders of social cognition in adults with acquired brain injury

This chapter provides an overview of disorders of social cognition in adults with acquired brain injury with a major focus on traumatic brain injury and stroke. We provide a comprehensive synthesis of decades of research examining various elements of social cognition (i.e., emotion perception in face and voice, cognitive and affective theory of mind, emotional empathy) and how these are disrupted specifically following these quite different kinds of acquired injury. In doing so, we consider the common neuropathological consequences of traumatic brain injury and its implications for social cognition. We consider the vascular distribution of stroke which often yields quite distinct profiles of neuropathology to TBI, in particular, how lateralized left or right hemisphere damage can lead to distinct profiles of social cognitive difficulties. We aim to illustrate how these difficulties underlie and subserve the deleterious effect of brain insult on social outcomes. An overview of social cognitive difficulties in other forms of acquired brain injury is also provided at the end of the chapter.