Social cognition abilities in people with HIV: the role of stigma and other factors.

Abstract

Social cognition refers to the ability to perceive social stimuli, interpret their meaning, and respond appropriately to navigate dynamic social environments, including various professional and personal relationships to secure interpersonal and external resources for effective social functioning. More basic, social cognition is the complicated ability to interact with others. Known to impact everyday functioning and quality of life, deficits in this essential ability have been well documented in schizophrenia, autism spectrum disorders, depression, and other mental health conditions. Studies in other clinical populations also indicate that even subtle deficits in social cognition can impact social everyday functioning. Such social cognitive abilities include emotional face recognition/perception, prosody, theory of mind, and empathy. This review aims to survey our current knowledge on social cognition in people with HIV (PWH), focusing on the following questions: Do people with HIV show impaired social cognition? Is social cognitive impairment of PWH related to neurocognitive impairment? Are social brain regions compromised in PWH? How is social cognition related to social experiences of PWH (e.g., stigma). These questions and more are explored, from which implications for future research are posited.