SOCIAL COGNITION AND EMOTIONAL FUNCTIONING IN FIBROMYALGIA: ASSOCIATIONS WITH EXECUTIVE FUNCTION

The present study aimed to investigate a large set of social-cognitive abilities and the possible relationships between those skills and the performance on executive function tasks in patients with FM. Forty women with FM and forty-one healthy women matched for education and age were recruited. Validated measures for the assessment of social cognition and executive function were employed. Patients with FM reported difficulties both in the identification of their own affect (FM patients vs. healthy women, mean ± SD: 54.75 ± 9.93 vs. 44.56 ± 10.09, t(79) = 4.579, p < .001) and in the recognition of others’ emotions (48.78 ± 4.80 vs. 51.41 ± 4.23, t(79) = -2.627, p = .010), as well as in the representation of others’ mental states (24.53 ± 3.81 vs. 26.80 ± 3.55, t(79) = -2.787, p = .007). No significant correlations were found between social cognition tasks and either executive function or psychological measures (all p > .05). These findings reveal the presence of several impairments in both social cognition and emotional functioning abilities in patients with FM. The impairments reported highlight the importance of adequately assessing those skills in clinical practice.